Samus Aran and The War of Eternity FROZEN
by 8bit Ghost
Summary: After Project Dread was stopped, Samus has decided not to get involved with the Galactic Federation anymore. But after a dangerous plot is revealed, Samus is placed in charge of her own team in the ongoing war. But the truth is not what it seems. FROZEN
1. Introduction

Yay! first fanfic! this is only the beginning of my huge epic. I hope you all like it!

Disclaimer: Metroid, samus, and anything else belong to nintendo. Anything that doesnt look metroid related is mine.

* * *

Introduction

In a year hundreds of years from our own, the **Chozo **worked with the **Humans** and thousands of other extraterrestrial species to set up a common goal: the establishment of universal discovery, interplanetary unity, and protection and justice throughout the universe. These three goals not only spelled the divine goal of the universe, but they also built the standards and laws of the largest interplanetary union in all universal history: **The Galactic Federation.** This enormous union was made to govern and control the space that all living things had once explored. It was the true cause, the government of the stars. But unfortunately, the Galactic Federation wasn't approved by all species. Many species did not join this new authority, and went on with nomadic ways. They were species such as the **Luminoth**, the **Alimbic**, and the **Bryyo Reptilians**. However, they had no intention of opposing the newly found republic, and they posed no threat to the Galactic Federation. Yet, a criminal organization was indeed formed to oppose the newly found republic. This organization was simply known as the **Space Pirates** by its victims. It was composed of a multitude of species which names have been forgotten since then. Yet there is one species that has not been forgotten: the Dragons. The last standing dragon has placed himself in command of the Space Pirate army. His name is **Dragon Lord Ridley**. The Space Pirates continued to pillage different planets and murder the denizens of many space colonies. The Galactic Federation had no choice, and they declared war upon the Space Pirates. The two opposing factions had battled fiercely for control of the universe after these events.

* * *

Prologue

It started with darkness.

And then it came.

A being, cloaked in dark robes of an ethereal substance, stepped from the void into the darkness. It stopped momentarily, waiting. Two more beings stepped from the void, cloaked in the same ethereal substance. The first one was cloaked in grey, the others cloaked in black and white. Their faces were hidden by their hoods. The one robed in grey spoke, with a raspy yet soft voice.

"We have come to do what we were meant to do." It said, with a voice obviously feminine. The other two nodded. The one in white spoke, with a cool yet sharp voice.

"All things have come to this. There is no turning back. It does not matter when we start, but matters if we start at all." It said, with a voice obviously masculine.

The last one, robed in black spoke, with a powerful yet compassionate voice. "We should begin then, correct? No point in wasting what we came for." It said, with a voice obviously feminine.

The grey one spoke. "Indeed, we must begin now. We know how to do it, and we will do what we were born to do." She lowered her head, and began to chant. The others saw this, and backed away from her, ready for what was to come.

"By the forbidden powers of our being, I command your essence to be!"

She pulled a sharp object from his robes quickly, and sliced it across her hand. Blood did not issue forth, however. A blue jagged gash appeared where she cut, but floating somewhat above her hand, not on it. She turned her hand over, and blue liquid poured from her hand. She spun in a quick circle, covering the ground in a blue circle of the splattered liquid. She closed the gash with her fingers, sealing it, and stepped back from the circle. The black robed one spoke.

"First will be created a cosmos to live in."

She lifted her hand. A field of energy projected from the circle on the ground, creating a sphere of blue light above it. She focused her energy, and small pieces of dust appeared within the sphere. They began to come together to create small organized groups, and then became entire systems.

The white robed one spoke. "Then we will create a chronos for them to move foward in."

He stepped foward and tapped the sphere. Ripples emanated from his finger across it, and the particles inside began to spin around eachother in orbit. The grey robed one then spoke.

"And finally, we will create an eos to live with. Eos: the dawn, the life, the soul." She leaned in front of the sphere, and breathed out an ethereal red mist from her mouth. The small dust pieces were enveloped, and began to glow. They then became more than just dust. Close up, the dust was covered in water, forests, mountains, and snow. Some were made of lava, some were made of air. Some were even made of entirely plants. Some dust became stars, with other dust orbiting them. She stepped back, and they looked at their creation.

"We must now govern our world. What are we to be called as its leaders?" The grey one spoke.

"I am Cosmos, creator of space." Said the black robed one confidently.

"I am Chronos, creator of time." Said the white robed one powerfully.

The grey robed one nodded. "Then I am Eos, creator of life." She said calmly. Eos looked to the glowing sphere.

"What shall we call our creation?"

Chronos spoke. "I understand its name now, since we have created it..."

Cosmos nodded. "Yes...a single verse of a poem, created by a unity of three...."

Eos thought silently. "...Then it shall be called what it must. The universe."

They all looked to the sphere, ready for what was to come.

* * *

Well, that sets it off to a good start. Not action packed or anything, but certainly tells you what the story is going to be like. I don't know when the next chapter will be up, but definitely in under a month.


	2. Chapter One: The Last Hope

Chapter one is now up, and it starts off the story here. more like the prologue for the entire space pirate plot.

* * *

Chapter One: The Last Hope

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 23rd of May.

Location: Planet Norion, Center Of Galactic Federation Military Procedures.

In a large room adorned with various technology and decorative instruments, the lords of 157 different species were just about to prepare for the most important meeting of their lives. In this meeting, they were brought together to discuss the ongoing war between the Space Pirates and the Galactic Federation. A large creature with six blue eyes and a humanoid body with a reddish complexion stepped up to the podium. This species was known as the Ramadora, a species known for their amazing intelligence and strategic thinking. This particular Ramador subject was Domoteras, Head of the Ramadoran Republic, a large science foundation spanning over 130 different planets.

"Good afternoon, everyone. We are here to discuss the progress of the war between the Galactic Federation and the UCSPE. As we should all know, the event that took place upon --"

"Don't you mean Space Pirates?" The bored looking woman near the back said.

Domoteras was a bit put off by this comment. "What did you mean by that?" He replied.

"The UCSPE is the Space Pirates. Just say Space Pirates, it's much easier." The woman started to spin her pencil on her finger.

Now, Domoteras was very annoyed. "Anyways, as we should all know, the event that took place upon Zebes four years ago completely destroyed the bond we had with the Chozo. And two years ago, the Phazon incident weakened our defenses against the Pirate menace. And one year ago, the battle against the X parasite and Project Dread almost annihilated the universe. These events have shaken the foundation of the Galactic Federation, almost toppling it completely. Fortunately, the brave warrior Samus Aran was there to defend the universe. He may be our only --"

"Excuse me." The bored woman said loudly. She had folded her briefing notes into an Origami spacecraft.

"WHAT IS IT NOW??" Domoteras was now infuriated by this woman. He was wondering why this woman was there, in this important war meeting.

Well, you see, Samus Aran isn't a man. She's a woman."

"AND HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?!" He screamed.

"I know, because I am that woman, Samus Aran, the esteemed guest of honor you invited."

As it became extremely quiet in the room, Domoteras realized that he had made an inexcusable mistake. He had been back-talking to the most dangerous person in the galaxy: Samus Aran. His face turned purple, and he suddenly knew that if he stayed in the room much longer, his chances of survival would be very slim indeed. He quietly stepped away from the podium, and he sat down, hoping that Samus had some bit of forgiveness left.

A man with short black hair and a very formal business-like suit suddenly stepped into the room. All eyes were instantly drawn to his attention, even Samus'. The man took a double take, since everyone had begun to stare at him.

"…I do not believe that you need to stare at me so intently. It gives me the impression that you are all attracted to me."

After those words, everyone was trying desperately to be the first person not looking at him.

"What? Am I that ugly that you mustn't be looking at me? Do not worry yourselves; I have no intention of cracking another joke like that. Anyways, if anyone doesn't know who I am, I will simply tell you. My name is General Gordon Nortel, and putting all formalities aside, I'm glad I could meet you all today. Now, if Domoteras does not mind, I will carry off where he started. I hate going to meetings, they always take so long."

Now, Nortel stepped up to the podium, and pulled out a large folder around five inches thick from his briefcase. Everyone took a deep breath in, and held it. – Is he really going to read that to us? – I hope not, it looks too big, and he said he hated long meetings – What does he mean by long? But instead, Nortel simply pulled out one sheet of paper, and placed it on the podium, withdrawing the rest of that enormous folder. Everyone let their breath slip out in relief. Nortel made a thick cough, and began to read his speech.

"Leaving off where Domoteras was, during the past few years, the famed warrior Samus Aran was there to defend the galaxy from dangerous events that were catastrophic in every way, shape, and form. She is currently the only bounty hunter with the most military appraisal. She is truly the last hope we had. And now, we ask of a favor. Today, Samus is our esteemed guest of honor at this important meeting. She plays a vital role in all of our future plans. Samus, would you please come to the podium?"

Samus rose from her seat, and passed by Domoteras on the way, giving him a terrible chill up and down his spine. She took her place by the podium.

"Samus, we have been grateful for your help in all past instances, but we all need something else from you. Will you accompany our troops onto the battlefront? Will you help us end this devastating war?"

Samus frowned in deep thought. She knew that involving herself in a never-ending war was dangerous, but that wasn't what was on her mind. She felt that she would end up in it anyway, even if she didn't say yes. So…

"Yes. I will help you alongside the troops of the Galactic Federation. I will help you end this war!"

* * *

Far away from the site of the meeting, the Space Pirates were preparing their own dangerous countermeasure. They had become great allies with a dangerous person. In a room with many shifty characters, Lord Ridley was seated in a large crusty throne, covered in dirt and grime and burnt bodies. Ridley, who was becoming impatient with the messenger troop, started to growl unpleasantly.

"Where is that useless messenger I sent out an hour ago!?"

A very frightened lobster trooper ran into the room, along with a person in white and black armor. The Space Pirates were divided into 4 types: Lobster, Lizard, Beetle, and Alligator. Unfortunately, this lobster was about to become broiled.

"H-h-h-h-ere is that man you wanted, Lord Ridley, sir." The trooper was already aware of his fate.

Ridley gave the trooper the "you are going to die right here and now" look, for he wasn't very tolerant of lateness.

"Adorios, have you had the Earth food called lobster?" Ridley asked.

The man in white and black armor replied: "No, Lord Ridley. I have never been able to try this dish before."

Ridley gave a small laugh. "Well then, now may be a good time to try some."

Ridley released a thick onslaught of flames. The trooper was engulfed, and screams of pain and terror filled the room. Soon, there was the corpse of a lobster on the floor. Not many of the troopers in the room cared, some of them laughed.

"I am sure that you are well aware of why I brought you here, correct, Adorios?"

"Of course I know why. I have been given the imperative goal of destroying your enemy, Samus Aran. She really does not seem as much of a challenge."

"Good, good. You must bring her down if you wish for us to bring out your requests."

Adorios was silent for a moment. "No. if you wish to see Samus dead, you must see to it that the machine is operational beforehand. If the machine is not operating, then the plan will not follow through correctly.

Ridley was now the silent one. He had never had his orders denied before, yet when Adorios did it, he knew that he was correct.

"Very well. This is the only time I'll let you call the shots, though. By the way, the troopers around here like to call you their 'last hope'. What does this mean to you?"

"I find it as nothing of much importance. You said something about lobster, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did. Care to have some?"

Adorios reached over to the corpse, and tore off a sturdy limb.

Ridley was going to like this guy for a long time.

* * *

Chapter one is over. please review. next chapter up very soon.


	3. Chapter Two: New and Improved

This chapter will definitely get you involved in the story. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Two: New and Improved.

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 25th of May.

Location: Planet Distundia, Storehouse Planet for Andromeda Appliances®.

Samus was wiggling around in her seat. It had been five hours since the ship had entered hyperspace, and they still had an hour to go. Usually, it would take only 16 minutes to get from Norion to Aether in hyperspace with reduced traffic, but even when traffic was at maximum, six hours was a really insane number. Samus looked out the window, and suddenly realized why it was taking so long.

"Why aren't we in hyperspace?" Samus asked.

"The area we are passing through is a popular tourist hub. If we had entered hyperspace, we would have probably set the entire sector on fire. Not only that, but we would have violated our own speeding laws. Not good for our public face, eh?" the pilot said.

"Why didn't you just change course? You know, go around?"

"Can't." he tapped the control panel with his knuckle. "It's on autopilot. If the course was to change, the entire ship would lock and it would sit here, detecting an intruder. It would sit here till GF troops got here to apprehend whatever culprit did so."

"Phbbbt. Some pilot you are, piloting a ship that doesn't even need steering."

If she had used her ship, she would have gotten there in sixteen minutes exactly.

Of course, her ship and equipment were taken away for the moment…

* * *

When Samus got out of the ship, you could tell she was very impatient. She was tapping her foot so fast you could have sworn she was trying to cause earthquakes for small animals. That or she needed to use the bathroom.

A humanoid robot stepped up to her and greeted her warmly. "Hello Samus, good to see you again."

Samus was puzzled. "I'm sorry, have we met?"

The robot let out a small laugh. "Of course you don't remember me. I'm neither a human nor a computer. It's me, Adam."

Samus was very surprised. She and Adam hadn't heard from each other in a while, since her ship was taken for testing. "Adam! How – When – Where, how is this possible? You look so………shiny!"

And indeed, he was, shiny. His body in structure was similar to Ghor's, from way long back. "The GF scientists are busy adding new applications to your ship. They didn't want to possibly damage me, so they removed me for now. There are also other things they are working on, too, but that is a surprise for now. Come, the real reason you are here is for your mission."

Adam led her through a long tunnel from the docking bay to the main building. Outside the tunnel, Samus could see the planet she was on out the window. The only thing that was visible though was fast moving yellow clouds blowing in every direction. "Adam, what kind of planet is Distundia?"

"Distundia is a desert planet. The air is very harmful, since the sand has been contaminated with lead and sulfuric residue. When you set foot upon it later, your suit will have new air filtering technology."

Samus looked straight ahead in the tunnel, and saw that the end was nearing them soon. When they got there, they set foot in an elevator that took them high in a tower, above the clouds. Soon, Samus could see the barren landscape that made up Distundia. She could also see large doors built into the walls of some cliffs in the distance. She wondered what those were.

"Adam, what are those?"

"Ah. Distundia is not only a barren planet, but it is also the home of Andromeda Appliance's storehouses. All bulk and products are held here after manufacturing. In fact, this building is simply a repurposed storehouse. We did not have the time to set up a proper base."

Samus was silent for a moment. "So why is my mission here?"

Adam looked in her direction. If robots could smile, Adam would have been smiling. "We are wondering the same of the Space Pirates."

* * *

Ridley was impatient as usual. His tail was thumping so fast you could have sworn he was trying to cause earthquakes for large animals. That or he needed to kill something. Soon, a messenger from the science facility came to him. If Ridley wasn't so desperate for what the science facility had prepared for him, he would have killed the messenger. Ridley was having a rough time with messengers lately.

"Lord Ridley, the spires are nearing the final stages of development. But, I do so hope I am not prying, sir, but why are the spires to be completed on the way to Distundia?" the messenger asked.

"You know what, soldier? I seriously don't know. Adorios said that the spires were to be completed before the 26th of May. He says that they have a specific purpose."

"Well, purpose or no purpose, the spires will be finished the moment they touch the ground."

"Good. We no longer need to wait. Tell the crew of the science facility that the spires' hyperdrive engines are to be completed early. We are heading to Distundia."

As the messenger took off, Adorios stepped into the room. His black visor was similar to Samus's in shape, and his helmet was shaped like a boomerang. His armor had a large black W shape on its chest, and the rest of his armor was a silvery white. His armor was seamless and solid, yet his body moved with fluid perfection. The only thing that seemed it would come off was his helmet. Adorios started to speak.

"When the spire is finished, you are to wait in the processor core of the machine. There, you will wait for Samus to come and encounter you. If she dies, then you shall have an obstacle removed in the grand plan. If you die, however, do not expect to have lost. You will be brought back to life again by the use of my technology, and the plan shall carry on. Is the plan clear?"

Ridley was silent for a moment. The air was fogging his senses, mesmerizing him, and soon, all feelings of destroying the intruder on their ship slipped away. The intruder, with the black visor and the white armor…

"Yes, it is clear. This is the only time I'll let you call the shots though…"

* * *

Samus was sitting at a holotable with Adam by her side. The rest of the ranking officers, including General Nortel, were seated around the table. Adam started to speak.

"When the Space Pirates start landing, we are to get the ships to land near our makeshift base. Then, we shall start attacking the Space Pirate's Queen Ship. Ridley will obviously be inside the ship, so it will be Samus's job to destroy him. Of course, General Nortel is to lead the sky pilots against the Space Pirate aerial forces, and Admiral Howard will command the 6th and 34th divisions against the ground troopers with Vice-admiral Solomon. Samus, you are to infiltrate the queen ship with me and a team of expert military hunters. Are there any objections, Lady?"

Samus still had a nagging thought at the back of her head. "Why are the Pirates invading here? I mean, unless Ridley wants a new food processor, there isn't a real reason for them to be here."

"We still have no idea what the Pirates are after, but we are certain that it obviously is not a good reason, food processor or not. Come, Milady, for we are to discuss your new team and equipment."

Samus followed Adam into a room with a few reliable looking bounty hunters inside. He led her up to a man in a black shell of armor. The man reminded her of Kanden, except for the fact that she could see his human face.

"This is Xorexus Redisen. He has proved himself worthy in many different occasions. He will be a good teammate, do you agree?"

Samus gave him a look in the eye. To her, he was most qualified. "I believe his true worth will be revealed on the battlefield. He is perfect."

Xorexus smiled. "I am honored to hear such judgment from such a legendary warrior. I am pleased to be of service."

They moved on to the next person. This one set a deep shock into Samus's heart. "Rundas?!"

"No, unfortunately. This is Harquar, a valuable hunter from the same species as Rundas. He has become quite valuable to the Galactic Federation."

"I agree. Rundas's ice weaponry has saved my life many times in the past. I cannot repay my debt to him now, so I shall repay him by working with one of his own species."

Harquar simply nodded, and they moved on to the last hunter. She was a Ramadora, but unlike the rest of her species, she looked like she had seen more battles than the Ramadorans had ever seen.

"This is Listal Tirex. She is a new addition to the ranks, but we believed we should allow you to see if she was ready for this. She claims she is a novice to bounty hunting, but still…"

Samus looked at Listal intently, as if trying to discover the light at the end of a tunnel. She spoke with a serious voice.

"There will be more blood than you have ever seen. More than I have ever seen."

Listal looked at Samus. "I will be ready."

"Are you sure? I can tell you have had a painful past. You wish not to think of it."

"I _said_ I would be ready."

Adam intervened. "Well Milady? Is she up for the job?"

Samus nodded. "Yes. She is like me in many ways."

Adam nodded at this, and led her to the research lab. Samus had a painful past, as well.

* * *

"Well, Samus, we have been redesigning many features of your ship and suit, and we would like to see if you approve of many of the changes we made."

Samus nodded. The scientists led her to the ship first. It was simply painted a different color, she thought at first, for it was orange now. But when she inspected the cockpit, she discovered that there was no computer. She got out and confronted Adam.

"Why is the computer gone? Are you not coming with me anymore? Please, tell me, why is this to be?"

Adam sighed. "Samus, the Galactic Federation believes that there is no reason for me to accompany you, for they feel that they no longer have the need to have jurisdiction over you anymore. Anyways, now that they have given me this new body, they want me back in command soon. I will no longer be around you all the time."

Samus was crestfallen. She had lost Adam again, and it was because of the Galactic Federation again as well. She pushed these feelings aside for the moment, however, and decided to see the suit the research lab had prepared for her to use.

It was amazing. It had the look and feel of her Chozodian power suit, but the shoulders were now clear on top, using the same sturdy fiberglass that her visor used. She could see every detail inside. And when she stepped into her suit, she noticed it still had all the latent abilities as her old suit. But for some reason, there was a new button by her pinky in her arm cannon. She pressed it, and a machete blade popped out of her arm cannon. She admired this new addition, and pressed the same button to retract it.

"Well, Milady, what do you think?" Adam asked. He was definitely smiling now.

"What do I think? I think I feel new and improved."

* * *

Oooh. New suit, new team, and a new objective. And, is Ridley under hypnosis? you will find out the rest of the plan in the next chapters. Please review!


	4. Chapter Three: The Path of the Hunter

Chapter 3 is now up!

* * *

Chapter Three: The Path of the Hunter.

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 26th of May.

Location: Planet Distundia, Storehouse Planet for Andromeda Appliances®.

The planet was indeed cloudy. Samus could barely see what was directly in front of her face. Therefore, she had just bumped into Admiral Howard for the sixth time.

"Oof! Samus, could you please try to pay attention to your surroundings? This is becoming quite a nuisance."

"Apologies, Admiral Howard, It shall not happen again."

"It had better not happen again."

Samus was about to blunder straight into his back again when suddenly, she felt a tapping at the base of her neck. She spun around, only to see Xorexus trying to tap her again. Now that he had her attention, he started to speak.

"Samus, if you really need to see anything, just change visors. Unless you don't have any right now, that is."

Samus's cheeks were a deep red now. She forgot that her suit had all of her latent abilities. She flipped to her Thermal Visor, and soon, she could prevent anymore embarrassing accidents.

"Thanks, Xorexus. You know, you really are quite the techie. When we enter the ship, I hope you have a good device to keep us undercover."

Xorexus smiled. "I think I can whip something up."

As the group moved on, Samus realized they were at the edge of a tall cliff. She flipped off her visor, and noticed that the clouds had stopped, too. She looked down, and realized that Ridley wasn't fooling around today.

"What the hell. Ridley must really want a new food processor that badly."

"Dang. That is more than I thought Ridley would send here." said Xorexus.

"He really is asking for it, isn't he?" growled Harquar.

There were millions of them. It seemed as if the entire Space Pirate race was there on duty. Samus was starting to shake with fury. The sight of every single one drove a spike deep into Samus's heart. It was a spike of hatred, a spike of sorrow. And when one was staring at one million Space Pirates all at once, it drove that spike so deep that it was enough to drive her into a rage of a feral beast. The same untamed rage only found in one creature: The Metroid.

Samus let out an angry shout and dove for the swarming masses down below. Adam tried to stop her, but then let her go.

"Why did she just do that? And why did you let her go?" Listal asked Adam.

Adam gave her a solemn look. "It is because she has a painful past, like you. Unless you wish to become her next victim, you must let her do what she feels is right. Often, you will have to help her do what she needs to do, no matter how insane it may seem. That is the path of the hunter, Listal, and you have just now fallen into the footsteps of this path." And with that, he jumped after Samus, leaving the others to decide what their path was. Listal turned to face the other bounty hunters, only to see that they already had jumped down into the conflict. As the fight continued, Listal made up her mind, and jumped in.

* * *

One: Samus does not like Space Pirates.

Two: Space Pirates make Samus angry.

Three: Do not make Samus angry.

Samus first landed on top of an unsuspecting lobster pirate. She placed her cannon into his face, and fired a hole through his skull. After that, all hell broke loose. The pirate closest to her instantly tried to fire a proton shot at her. But, she was already gone and underneath him in morph ball mode. Expertly laying three bombs at the base of his feet, she shattered his bones and left him screaming at the ground. She quickly got up, switched to her plasma beam, and charged it up with a power bomb. The effect was instantaneous. A green shock wave oscillated from her cannon, ripping apart every pirate it encountered. Soon, a small gap was missing in the amount of pirates left. Then, she switched to her brand new machete. She sliced downwards on one lizard pirate, only to realize it wasn't enough to take it out completely. Soon, there were too many pirates closing in on her, and she was running out of time. Then an idea hit her. She charged up her plasma beam with the machete still extended, and sliced a pirate in a long, upward swoop. Just as she hoped, the heat from her beam superheated her blade to searing temperatures. The pirate was left in two charred, smoking halves. This wasn't fully realized by the other pirates until it was too late. Samus moved quickly to slash every pirate in front of her, leaving the path to victory cleared.

A ways off from where Samus was, Xorexus was doing well with his battles. He shot five pirates with a precise, blue beam squarely in their foreheads, and placed a bomb at the base of one pirate's neck. As the pirate floundered to get the bomb off, he accidentally activated it, causing an explosion that almost outclassed the range of a power bomb. Then, Xorexus charged up his beam, and just as quickly, it was released, causing a large bunch of lasers to home in and collide with the nearest heat source they could find. And over fifty pirates fell to their knees at the same time. Xorexus smiled. He may seem like an innocent young man, but he really meant what he did for work.

Harquar forced his thick, icy fist into the throat of a pirate who was only added to the ranks 2 days ago. Oh well. Then, he took the pirate, and froze it into the shape of a sword. The seven pirates that had all just charged at him were quickly impaled and then launched like a large, grotesque, frozen missile. When it collided with the torso of an escaping pirate, it caused a temperature shift in which the air simply froze and then melted; causing the same effect upon any Space Pirate that was unlucky enough to be in range. And there were a lot of pirates in range. Then, he ran forward with all of his might, and conjured a path of ice which he floated upon. With all the power he had, he forced all of his might into the ground, and icy stalagmites popped out of the ground, shredding and freezing many Space Pirates. Harquar launched to the ground with a heavy thud, and slowly left the scene.

Adam was a bit new to the entire "hunter" thing, but he wasn't to be taken lightly, not even one bit. He moved with fluid precision, using thin laser blades attached to his wrist to slice any pirate that got in his way. His wiry body moved in elegant curves and movements, flowing like the ripples on a pond. His laser blades suddenly turned into laser beams, and he shot down any pirate he saw. He did not miss his mark once. Then, he used his laser to superheat the sand around him into a lake of melted glass. All the pirates around him fell into the lake, and then, the glass hardened, leaving the pirates in a perfect frozen state of death. If one were to look down, they would see each and every pirate that fell into his deadly trap.

Listal was most definitely not a novice, as she had claimed. She had already taken out 67 pirates on her own, without any fancy weaponry. But she was saving her good stuff for last. She shot her signature weapon, the kinetic beam, straight into the belly of a crocodile pirate. The beam shot at him with pure kinetic force, and completely ripped him in half. Then, she decided to use the big one. She charged her beam up with a speed missile, and then released it. The missile, which already shot at the speed of sound, was boosted by the force of kinetic energy. It blew straight through the pirates in its way, and the kinetic force in its wake ripped through the pirates around it. Then, the missile exploded on the cliff on the opposite side of the gorge, and a land slide occurred which crushed every pirate that happened to be near that wall. And since all the pirates were running in that direction to get away from _her_, they ended up running into their deaths.

Even Nortel was having his fair share of battle. In fact, if he hadn't been in the skies at the moment, the overhead ships would have had the chance to launch deadly bombs at the scene below. Nortel's ship was an interesting model. The wings of the ship were edged with laser blades, allowing collision with any ship he flew through. He suddenly spotted a ship that was about to launch a bomb down below. He shot forward with intense speed, and sliced the bomber in half. He looked down, and saw that there were a significant amount of pirates missing. That was good, because he hated long battles.

Admiral Howard and Vice-admiral Solomon were stunned. They had never seen such skillful mastery before.

"I see why these hunters are on our side." Howard said.

"Why is that, Admiral?" said Solomon.

"Because if they weren't on our side, they would be considered a threat to the Galactic Federation. If you can't beat them, join them.

Solomon nodded. These hunters were definitely not a force to be reckoned with. After only half an hour, five warriors had already taken out one third of one million pirates. He shuddered at the thought of the pirates out there being GF troopers instead.

* * *

Samus plopped down next to a rock which she had recently killed a Space Pirate on. She saw Adam, and gave him a wave of her hand.

"Adam! How many did you get?

"I think I got around a good amount of 160,000. What about you, Harquar?"

Harquar, who had just sat down, looked up. "200,000. Xorexus?"

Xorexus, who had been sitting by the rock for quite a while, smiled. "271,846. I have a counter in my suit. Samus? How did you do?"

Samus took in a large breath, and let it out. "I don't know how many exactly, but I think around…" she did a little math problem on her fingers, and finally said "304,000."

Everyone made remarks of approval. "Looks like you outclassed us. But what else to expect from the great Samus?"

Suddenly, a beetle pirate jumped out of nowhere and aimed directly at Samus's throat with his slasher blade.

Samus was about to fire it with a missile but she was too late to stop it. And suddenly, as it was two inches away from Samus, it suddenly exploded in a shower of exoskeleton shards. Samus and the others were surprised, and looked up. Listal was slowly walking forward, with her smoking cannon still pointing at where the pirate was just standing. With a cock of her head, she said her total triumphantly.

"310,000, including that one I just got."

Everyone was silent at first, but then they all started clapping, admiring her hard work and diligence. Samus smiled. She walked up to Listal and put her hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks Listal. I owe you one. You really are the hunter I imagined you as."

Adam spoke up. "Milady, It should be time when we ended this battle. We should probably head for the queen ship soon, or else it may try to escape."

Samus nodded, and started taking off to the queen ship as fast as she could. The others followed, ready to aid Samus upon destroying the true threat to the universe.

* * *

Estimated total of Space Pirates destroyed: 1,250,000.

* * *

Samus helped Xorexus to his feet as he got into the open hull of the queen ship. Yes, it was open. Samus thought this was a little too inviting. As they walked through the corridors, Samus realized that there weren't any pirates to be seen. It was almost as if Ridley had painted a sign upon the front of the ship saying: COME ON IN!! WE HAVE RIDLEY SHOOTING PRACTICE RIGHT HERE FOR FREE!! It was way too suspicious for Samus to believe. When she got to the room where Ridley always was in, she noticed no one was home. Confused and lost in thought, the five hunters left the ship, pondering at where Ridley was.

Harquar broke the silence first. "Okay. So we tried to find Ridley, and no one was home. And if we looked everywhere in the queen ship, and we know he isn't out here, then who is leading the pirate troopers?"

"I don't know, Harquar," said Samus, "but there aren't any signs of him here, which is a bit strange, because it isn't like Ridley to hide. He must be in a ship in the atmosphere or something…"

Just as Samus finished her sentence, her voice was drowned out by an enormous ship hovering past over their heads. Soon, a second one followed, and as they landed a bit off from where they were standing, the two ships were identified as two huge metal spires. The spires were a silvery white, with thick black marks covering each one. Suddenly, three large spikes protruded from the thing's seamless surface, and they dug deep into the ground. Soon, red waves were shooting up the spikes, and the black marks started to glow an eerie orange. Now, both spires were glowing orange and a yellow beam started to form at the tip of each one.

Samus nodded. "I was right. He's in that thing, after all this time.

* * *

Yay, there was battling. And the battle between Samus and Ridley is nearing early. Review for new chapters!


	5. Chapter Four: The Fury of the Beast

Sorry this chapter took so long to get up. It was hard to get to because of other buisness. Anyhoo, the battle of Ridley and Samus is in this chapter, so read up!

* * *

Chapter Four: The Fury of the Beast.

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 26th of May

Location: Planet Distundia, Storehouse Planet for Andromeda Appliances®

"Soooo…How do we get all the way from here to there before those things shoot a laser or something?" Said the confused Phyrgian.

"Well, if you really want to know, we can run. Or, unless you can't run as fast as the others Harquar…someone could carry you…" Samus said with a smile.

If Phyrgians could blush, this would be what Harquar would be doing.

"Shut up! I will not allow you to humiliate me so!"

"Ok then. We'll give you a head start!" Samus said playfully.

Harquar blushed again, and ran off in humiliation toward the spires.

"Was that really necessary, Milady?" Adam said.

"Yes, it was. In order to get this team going, I will need to test their loyalties and their character. For Harquar, I tested his ability to act upon opportunity. The opportunity: a head start."

Samus crouched suddenly, and tapped a few buttons at her heels. She tensed, and then broke into a fast paced run.

Xorexus smiled. "I see why Samus gave him the head start."

"Why?" asked Listal.

"Because he really needs it"

* * *

Samus was running pretty fast. But it wasn't as fast as Harquar. He was using his icy abilities to reduce friction between his feet and the rocky ground. But this really didn't matter to Samus. She was gaining speed quickly. A gyro placed at the heel of each foot doubled the speed and intensity of every step she took. Soon, her body was glowing red due to the heat caused by wind friction. As she reached 130 miles per hour, she stopped and crouched. The energy preserved in the gyros was shaking her entire body. Mustering all of her strength, she pulled the energy into her body and jumped into the air. And then, she released it.

The sound was deafening. It held the force of Mach4 in its wake. Samus was moving faster than the speed of sound, a projectile of pure force and will. She sped past Harquar, and pulled him with her in her wake. Soon, the spire was in sight. Even sooner, they both crashed straight through the supersteel outer shell.

Samus got up groggily. Her speed booster was never that fast before. In fact, it often didn't have the ability to even penetrate limestone. But, they were inside one of them, which was all that mattered. Wait…they?? Samus ran over to Harquar's weak form. It was breathing steadily, and was trying to get up.

"Harquar!! Are you ok? I didn't mean to do that. Please tell me you are ok!"

"Huff…huff…huff. Next time, give me a better head start."

Samus let out a breath of relief. She helped him get to his feet, and checked his vital signs. He seemed to be good enough to take out Ridley by himself.

"Do you think we are in the correct spire?" said Harquar.

"I don't know. Let me use my X-ray visor…"

Soon, Samus's entire field of vision was enveloped in blue with white outlines. She looked toward Harquar, and smiled at his skeleton. The skeleton waved back. Then, she looked up, and saw a horde of Space Pirates. They were operating all of the machinery in the spire. She looked down, and saw the energy processors. She looked around some more, and then saw a dragon-like skeleton. Switching off her X-ray visor, she walked toward the wall in which direction she could see Ridley. Then, she activated her machete, and sliced at the wall with plasma dripping from its blade. Cutting through the wall like paper, she was greeted by a flash of light, and her vision cleared soon enough. Looking through the hole, her heart sank when she saw that Ridley was in the other spire.

"He's in the other one?" Harquar queried.

"He's in the other one." Samus replied.

"Chorr!" (Samus took this to be a Phyrgian swear.) "We'll never get there in time!"

"Come on. I have a feeling that we may get there after all. Look!"

A connector wire was extending from one spire to the other near the top of each one. When the two were connected, the entire building shook. Then, a wave of energy that shook both Samus's and Harquar's insides went up the spire. A feeling of dread overtook Samus. Without a word, both Samus and Harquar started to ascend the spire.

* * *

Adam was the first to notice the wave of energy. "Listal, look!"

The wave was slowly moving up the spire but gaining speed. Soon, it reached the top. The glowing yellow ball that was currently perched at the top overflowed with energy that burst into the heavens. Soon, a white laser was visible to the entire universe as it shot forth to the very edges of space. Listal felt the exact feeling of dread that Samus was feeling at the moment. She then had a plan. She sat down, and aimed her kinetic beam at the tower Samus was in. She started to charge it up, and kinetic energy started to build up in front of her, distorting space around the shot. She mumbled to herself: "Come on Samus, hurry up."

* * *

Unfortunately, Samus couldn't hurry up at the moment. She was faced with a little dilemma. Harquar's powers weren't working as well due to the massive bump on his noggin from the previous impact, and for some stupid reason, Samus didn't have her space jump.

"mfrgrlrgrrllgrfrgg…" Samus swore under her breath. "Those idiots. Why did they give me everything else except my space jump?"

Why did she need her space jump? Because she was at the base of a huge well, and she had no way of reaching the top. Angrily, she shot a super missile at the top of the well. Suddenly, an idea formed itself in her head. "Harquar! Come here, and grab my leg!"

"Umm…ok?"

He took hold of her leg. Samus nodded, and shot a super missile towards the top again. This time though, she did the unthinkable. With her shields set toward the top of her body, she used her grapple beam to latch onto the escaping missile. The missile lurched under her weight with Harquar, but it soon pulled them up slowly. It certainly was a funny sight. Samus and Harquar were the first people in the universe to hijack a missile. But Samus was taking a heavy toll on her suit. The propulsion was spraying right on top of her, reducing her energy levels steadily. They soon neared the top, and Samus swung their weight onto the edge, letting go of the missile. They both landed with a heavy thud at the edge.

"Owww…geez. That was the stupidest idea I ever had."

"But it definitely worked."

Samus smiled. "It definitely worked"

Samus got to her feet, and saw a door to her left. She pulled Harquar up, and shot the door. It opened, and the control room was visible from there. Pulling Harquar with her, she popped her machete out and charged it up with her wave beam. A Space Pirate got up to attack her, but was instantly tazed by her electrically charged blade. Harquar shot out an ice spreader that froze most of the pirates left. Samus looked around, and saw the connector cable out one of the windows. Using a plasma missile to melt the window through, she jumped onto the cable, followed by Harquar. Steadily, they began to cross.

* * *

Listal saw two figures crossing the bridge between the spires. Looking closer, she saw that it was Samus and Harquar.

"Listal! Look! It's them! They are making it across to the other spire!"

Listal grunted "Then they won't be needing the other one."

She released the huge ball of kinetic force that she had been storing up for the last five minutes at the spire. As it sped toward the spires, the other spire suddenly had a huge blue wave of energy rush up it. As the two spires shot beams into the sky above, a shield stated to form from the top. Unfortunately, the kinetic shot simply bounced off of the shield into the sky.

"Oh, SHOOT!"

* * *

Samus and Harquar were almost completely across when the second wave came up. Feeling the same electrocution from before, they now saw that two beams were shooting straight up, along with a shield that was steadily making it's way toward the ground.

"Crap. We better do this quickly, or we won't be able to get out."

She melted the window for the second control room, and relentlessly destroyed the other pirates along with Harquar. They made their way down the spire, and soon came into a steamy room that nearly blocked all vision. Switching to her X-ray visor, she saw a hulking white skeleton across the room from her.

Samus glared at it. "Hello Ridley."

The dragon looked up at her with glaring eyes. "Come for your death, hunter?" he said with a raspy voice lined with just a crackle of fire.

"You always say that. Before we kill you brutally, tell me, what the hell is your plan?"

"For once, I will tell you." He said with a little chuckle. "I seriously don't know." He broke out into deep laughter that released the Metroid anger inside her. She popped her plasma-laden machete out, and placed it under his skinny neck.

"What the hell do you mean!? You better answer now, or that stick you call a neck will be severed before you can say 'I'."

Ridley was suddenly genuinely frightened looking. "Help me, hunter. I have nothing to do with this at all. The mist you see around you is not really mist, but a brainwashing mixture. He's in my mind! He wants me to help him destroy theeeeeeeeetryeryeuretrtrtegrgrggggrrrrrrrrrr…"

Soon, Ridley was no longer a beast of sanity, but a beast of pure hunger. He lashed out at Samus with his powerful claws, and knocked her into the wall. Then, he sped into her, and they both went through the wall and out into the vast expanse of desert. Harquar, who was trying to get over the groggy feeling he got from the strange mist, stumbled after her and the dragon.

Samus slashed at Ridley in a furious rage. The plasma sliced through his leathery skin, and left a bloody cut on his shoulder. Ridley brought his fist down on Samus's shoulder, and cracked the glass that covered it. They struggled in the sand, and blood was everywhere. Ridley and her were positioned right under the falling shield when Ridley covered her in flames. The fire got into he suit through the crack that Ridley made, and her screams of pain echoed across the canyon.

Weak and limp, Samus fell to the ground. Ridley laughed again, and was going to eat the hunter once and for all. But as he dove his head down, his body was cased entirely in ice. Harquar quickly grabbed Samus's limp form and ran off from the now closing shield. The frozen Ridley was then crushed underneath the wall, and his body lay split in two, one half on either side of the shield.

Harquar looked back at the impossible weapon behind him. The laser was reaching out into space as far as possible, and the truth behind the terrible machine was yet to be uncovered. Looking down at Samus, Harquar's eyes filled with icy liquid. Her vital signs were low, and an army of pirates was nearing to finish them off. He wasn't going to let her die. No, not like the last time.

The twin lasers of death spewed into the sky, and Harquar carried Samus to a place where they would both be safe.

* * *

Well, that certainly wasn't the ideal Ridley/Samus battle, but it certainly was exciting. Stay tuned for the next chapter!


	6. Chapter Five: A Heart of Ice

Umm... this one did come a bit quick, but I had nothing else to do today. And yes, this does have a part in the story's plot. It isn't just a filler. Read!

* * *

Chapter Five: A Heart of Ice.

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 27th of May.

Location: Planet Distundia, Storehouse Planet for Andromeda Appliances®

"Chorr."

Samus was breathing heavily when she woke up to the loud swear. She looked around, and saw that she was in a dark room. No use to see anything, then, she thought with a little sarcasm. Then, a little flash happened across the room, and she saw the brief image of Harquar's body hunched over something.

"CHORR!! Why isn't this working!?"

"Harquar?"

"Oh! Sorry, Samus…I didn't mean to wake you. How do you feel?"

"Like a bunch of moans, groans, and bones. Where are we, and what are you trying to do?"

"Well, after our short battle with Ridley, you were too weak to bring back to the Federation. So, I brought you here, inside one of the storehouses. And currently, I am trying to create a fire from some toasters I found."

"Toasting the toasters, are you? You aren't going to get very far, considering the fact that all toasters were made inflammable after the President of Ghillic almost was killed by a combusting toaster."

"Oh, Tresit!" (Possibly another swear) "And it doesn't help when my ice powers nullify any spark I make…"

"Here, take my arm cannon, and shoot the boxes they came in. That should produce enough heat and light."

"Why can't you do it?"

"Because it hurts like hell when I move my arm!" Samus growled.

"Right…sorry…"

Harquar made his way to Samus slowly, as not to step on her or something, and carefully removed her arm cannon. Then, fumbling with the controls, he shot a glob of plasma at a nearby box. The box then burst into green flames, the same color as the beam. Soon, the room was filled with a pasty green light, which caused Samus to squint a little.

Samus was able to see what the room looked like now, and could also see that she was covered in blood. She held a gasp of disgust, and looked around her to see any punctures or gashes.

"Don't worry. Most of that blood is Ridley's and mine. The only thing you have is a chemical burn. However, I'm a little more worse for wear." He pointed at a large bite mark that was in his leg, and then at a large burn mark on his forearm.

"What happened to you? And how come you aren't gasping in pain over it?"

"Well, when I was taking you to safety, Space Pirates attacked us, along with a Korakk Beast. That's where I got the bite mark. As for the pain, Phygrissians usually numb themselves out with cold ice. Same with you. If I hadn't numbed out your shoulder, you would have been in way more pain than you are now."

"Thanks…"

They both sat silently for a moment. Neither knew what to say to each other. Finally, Samus broke the silence.

"So, why did you save me? Isn't it usually a hunter for himself? Adam could have done fine without me."

"I couldn't leave you, not like the last time."

"What do you mean, 'not like the last time'?"

Harquar was silent. "Do you like stories? Because if you do, then listen to mine."

* * *

"A long time ago, when I was only 17 lunar cycles old, Phrygis was the best mining facility of the entire galaxy. With everyone buying its resources, the people buying the ice would be able to supply themselves with water, and the money Phyrgians were getting would help supply the moon with food. But, after a while, a group of Phrygian miners came across a large supply of a rare mineral: Deuterium. This mineral was long wanted for many different reasons in many galaxies, and the Phrygian council saw this as an opportunity to dominate the resource market. Soon, more and more deuterium was being sent across the galaxy, and more and more Phrygians were being sent down deeper into the mines to retrieve more of the mineral.

When I became 19 lunar cycles old, I was sent into the mines along with my newly betrothed, Deliax. She was truly a sight to see, for her shoulders and tentacles were of perfect shape…sorry. Anyway, we were placed in the same group together, and we were very excited. We never left each other's side, and we worked diligently every day. We both were doing better than any others in our group. But soon, we were sent even further into the mines. The heat was so stifling that our icy abilities were of no use, and the deuterium was even harder to retrieve. But we still got it done. Then, we reached the core of the planet, which was lined with deuterium all over. We were about to bring it up, when suddenly, an earthquake shook the entire mine. We all escaped except for a few. Gortek, Sartu, and Kililian were all crushed, while me, Turyeth, Deliax, Rundas and Follort all escaped. After the ice melting ceremony of grief for each one, me and my good friend Rundas decided that the mines were too dangerous to traverse anymore. So, we both left Phrygis as a team of bounty hunters. But, after a while, I missed my beloved, and it came to notice that Rundas was not one for teamwork. So, after 4 lunar cycles had passed, I returned to Phrygis to see Deliax again. But when I returned, it came to be true that she had died in the mines during my departure. I was torn in two. Because of my arrogant feelings toward the mines, I had left her side for a more selfish purpose. If I had been with her at the time, I would have been able to save her. The thing that make me remember her is the fact that she had given birth to our child during my time gone, and the council trains my child to be one of the healers for our city currently."

* * *

The floor was covered in little drops of ice, due to Harquar's constant crying. Samus didn't know Phrygians could cry, but she felt his pain as bitter cold waves that emanated from his body.

"That is why I couldn't leave you. You are not my betrothed, but you are certainly not one to be left behind. If I hadn't been there for you, you would have died like Deliax."

Samus nodded. "Thank you, Harquar, for telling me this. It will help you become a better hunter if you understand your pain."

Harquar looked up, and nodded. Getting up from his seat, he looked toward the far end of the room. "I have a feeling that these storehouses may some how connect to each other. If we follow the maze, we might be able to reach the remodeled federation outpost. Samus, can you stand?"

"I think so. My suit has been healing my skin for the last hour, so I think I may be fully healed soon. Can you give me back my arm cannon?"

As Samus fitted her arm cannon to her suit, she found out that there had been a little leakage by the base of her thigh. Suddenly, Samus was filled with dread. The liquid that was leaking from her suit was the combustion for her power bombs. Ridley must have smashed her supply in their battle.

"Harquar! Pick me up, and don't get near the flames."

"Ok?"

When she got up from her seat, she saw that the liquid was nearing the edge of the fire. She screamed at the top of her lungs: "RUN HARQUAR!!"

They both ran as fast as they could from the fire, but the explosion already happened. A huge wave of power energy pushed them forward, and it destroyed the walls and ceiling. The room filled with sunlight, and both of them were unconscious.

* * *

Nortel was the first to see the explosion from the sky. When he landed at the site, he smiled, and got two marines to return Harquar and Samus to the medical facility.

"Good thing I found you two. I hate long rescue missions."

* * *

Well, it was a bit short, but it still explains a bit about Phrygians and Harquar. NO, Samus and Harquar are not in love. And Nortel...sigh. he hates anything that takes a long time. Review please!


	7. Chapter Six: The Infinite Ocean of Light

Thanks for reading, everyone! this chapter is a definite attention-grabber, so pay attention closely.

* * *

Chapter Six: The Infinite Ocean of Light.

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 2nd of June.

Location: Planet Norion, Center Of Galactic Federation Military Procedures.

"Samus?"

"Samus?"

Samus woke up. She was in a neat bed, with several other neat beds beside her. Then, she saw Harquar, who was wearing an odd-looking hospital tunic. By odd-looking, she meant it looked odd on him. Harquar's facial tentacles wiggled. Samus took this to be a smile. She smiled back.

"It's good to see you alive, Samus."

"Same of you. What happened? And how long have we been out?"

"Around six days, Milady." Said a familiar voice by the doorway.

"Adam! So good to see…you? What are you wearing?" Samus said.

Adam was no longer his skinny robotic self, but now dressed in a suit which was like Admiral Dane's, along with a set of little medals. "As I said, the Federation needs me. I must stay as the new Chief-Admiral for the federation. As for you, you will be needed to find the target of the twin lasers of Planet Distundia. Once you are dressed, you are to follow me to the briefing room. Here are the clothes you need to wear. Any objections, Lady?"

He tossed a one-piece suit toward Samus, and left without a word.

Samus frowned, but then left the thought to drift off. She was about to pull off her tunic when she realized Harquar was still in the room. She let out a little cough, and Harquar "blushed". "Oh, right, privacy." And he left her to dress. She pulled off the tunic, and slipped on the suit. It was like her jumpsuit, but it was a bit more formal than her normal wear. She stepped out of the room, and found Harquar sliding on his own suit.

"Oops! Sorry. I'll… get going."

Harquar's facial tentacles wiggled again, and Samus was off.

* * *

When Samus reached the Briefing Room, she was exhausted. It had taken her at least 10 minutes to get there, and it was halfway across the complex. Therefore, she took a heavy seat next to Xorexus.

"You ok, Samus?" Xorexus asked.

"Yeah…Just achy and tired, that's all."

Soon, Harquar made it in, and the briefing began.

"Today," Adam started, "We are going to discuss the twin lasers of Distundia. What is the status report on their targeting, Nortel?"

Nortel stood up. "According to my squad, the beam seems to reach farther than the outer wastes, past the Loxar System. Also, we sent some probes from the abandoned GF station there to explore farther, but even they didn't go very far. Apparently, this beam is stretching farther than the universe."

"Wait, did you say you went to the Memphis Federation Outpost?" said a confused Commander.

"Yeah…you know it is forbidden to go there! What happened there 50 years ago put it under quarantine!" said another.

"Hey, I had no time to go off to the edge of the universe! I needed to stop and refuel. And the only place where I could do that was at Memphis!"

"Enough!" yelled Adam. This surprised Samus, because she had never seen Adam yell at anyone before. "We are not here to bicker; we are here to find results! Now, stop blaming General Nortel for stupid things. All that matters is the fact that he brought us valid and useful information. Now, as we all know, the only ships capable of reaching that far out in space are the G.F.S. Olympus, General Nortel's H-55 Viceblade, and Samus's Hunter-Class SA-5 gunship. Unfortunately, we need both Nortel and the G.F.S. Olympus here, with us. So…"

"Got it." Samus said. "You want me to sail past the Loxar system and find out if that laser is even shooting at anything."

"Precisely." Adam finished. "Would you like to bring someone with you on you mission for backup?"

Samus hesitated. "Yes, I would like to bring someone with. I request that Chief-Admiral Malkovich comes with me upon my mission."

Everyone murmured in discontent and surprise at this statement. Samus smiled, and awaited Adam's response.

He hesitated. "…Very well. I will accompany Samus Aran on her mission to the beam's target. In my place, I put General Nortel as my second in command during my time away."

This really got the entire table angry. Adam gone from command is one thing, being replaced by Nortel was another. An angry Colonel spoke up.

"This is unacceptable! The Chief-Admiral can't just walk out and put someone, who has no experience, in command! He's in a lower rank than me!"

"This is why I hate long arguments. They always end up long." Said Nortel.

"Enough already! I place Nortel in command because he is obviously more mature than the rest of you. Now, I am accepting this request, and that is the end of it!"

* * *

Samus was preparing the little flight coordinates she would need to reach her destination when suddenly, Adam was lifted up into her ship. Samus looked behind herself, and waved a little.

"You know, Milady, you were lucky that the Federation allowed me to take leave temporarily. This was a bold maneuver, Milady."

"I know. But, I wanted to be with you for one more mission. Just one. You know what I mean? Without you……I've just become so accustomed to having you around."

"Milady…you know I want to help you as much as you want me to, but it is difficult to follow the path you follow."

Samus was silent for a moment.

"Well, while I am with you, we might as well be on with our mission."

Samus nodded, and started to activate her ship.

* * *

Hyperspace was different when flying directly next to a laser. It was stretched, contorted, and it was screaming in pain. Samus couldn't take it anymore. She exited hyperspace for a moment.

"Lady Aran, what is the matter?"

"Space…feels like it is dying. The Beam is peeling apart the insides of space. It's like…a ripple in an infinite ocean of light."

Adam nodded at this, and was suddenly distracted by something that was outside the ship.

"Milady…we may have a problem."

Samus looked out the window, and saw what he was worried about.

The entire sector in which they were flying through was crowded with Metroids.

"Maybe if we went into hyperspace again, Lady Aran, we could escape."

"No, we cant right now. The ship's hyperdrive needs to cool. We're going to have to fight them."

"Milady…have you forgotten that you are…?"

"Not now, Adam."

Samus opened the airlock, and was sucked out into space. When the door closed, Samus drifted for a bit until her suit activated the propulsion boosters. Then, she was attacked by the Metroids.

* * *

-Am I dying?-

-Where am I?-

-What happened?-

"You are dead, Ridley."

Ridley weakly lifted his head. When he was accustomed to the light, he saw Adorios standing above him.

"You…you were the one who infiltrated my ship!"

"Yes, I was. I was also the one who tricked you into believing I was on your side. Foolish creature. You even tried to call for help. From who, you might ask? Your sworn enemy, Samus Aran, that's who. You pitiful thing, you tried to defeat me! And you failed."

Ridley's eyes fell into a deep rage. He mustered all the strength he held, and slashed at Adorios with his claws, slicing him into three pieces.

"Hk-"

And Adorios's body fell to the ground. Ridley laughed, releasing a bellowing, deep laugh that could be heard for miles. As he laughed, Adorios's body started to shiver, and his body reassembled itself. The fully alive Adorios started to speak.

"You fool. You obviously didn't know about my true power. I cannot die, nor can I be severed! I am the power of my master, Metalloid! I am Adorios the Metalloid Assassin, and you will now feel the pain you tried to inflict on me!"

Adorios's hand started to split into tiny, little pieces of metal. Soon, his entire arm had become a cloud of little shards of his suit. Then, they reformed into three large blades, which then positioned themselves above Ridley, who was now very afraid.

"Behold the power of the Displacement Suit!" And Adorios slashed the blades at Ridley.

Ridley's body was then sliced into pieces, and his scream could be heard for miles.

* * *

"Milady, please answer me! What happened? Where are you?" Adam yelled into the intercom.

"Adam…they…aren't attacking me." Samus replied.

"What?"

"They are latched on to me, but they do not attack. It's more like they are latched on to me for safety, for comfort. It's like a child clinging to its mother."

The Metroids were latched on to every part of her body, but they certainly weren't attacking her. Instead, they seemed to be pouring energy into her, not taking it.

"I believe they think you are their Queen"

"What?? Why do you say that?"

"They are, ahem, attempting to have intercourse with you."

"What?!"

"They are pulsing in their DNA signatures, trying to make you absorb it into your skin. The Queen Metroid would then replicate the DNA and then combine it with her own to lay eggs. Considering you have Metroid DNA inside of you, you are perfectly eligible of undergoing this process."

"Adam! Are those engines cooled yet? Because if they are, we are getting out of here!"

"Understood, Milady, I will pull you in."

A yellow-green beam emanated from the underside of the ship, and it pulled Samus in as she shook Metroids off of her body. When she got in, she quickly placed herself underneath the bio-scan apparatus.

"Ship, tell me if there are any anomalies in my atomic structure currently."

A little blue wave shot out of a probe in the ceiling, covering Samus's body completely. When the bio-scan was finished, the ship told her that her body was no different from the last time she was scanned. Samus let out a sigh of relief. Apparently, the suit had protected her from being a mother to 100 Metroid larvae.

"Adam, engage the hyperdrive. We need to finish our mission."

"Understood, Milady. We shall depart immediately."

The ship started to vibrate a little bit, and it slid through the fabric of space, leaving a ripple in its wake.

* * *

Chief-Admiral Nortel was looking through some of his papers, or, to be more precise, looking through Chief-Admiral Malkovich's papers. But, if he was to be Chief-Admiral while Adam was gone, he was going to need to know what his job requirements were. As he shuffled through the papers, he came across a large folder of information regarding Samus Aran.

"Hello, what's this?"

* * *

Samus's ship slid out of hyperspace, like a ball being squeezed out of a rubber tube. Her ship popped out, and she stopped by the supposed target of the laser.

"Wow." Both Samus and Adam said.

The laser was shooting into a pool of darkness. The beam dissipated into little grains of light, and then they were gone. Samus shot two missiles into the darkness, only to see that they disintegrated the moment they touched the surface.

"Adam…I think this is the edge of the universe."

The pool stretched out into infinity: above them, below them, and both sides to the left and right. The only thing that was visible for miles was a little planetoid that was sitting about 200 miles away.

"Adam, what do you think is on that planet?"

Adam smiled. "Only one way to find out." And as he finished his sentence, he piloted the ship to land on the planet at the edge of the universe.

* * *

Well, once again, another cliffhanger. This story is starting to reveal its plot now, isn't it? And Adorios's power has been REVEALED! Very good... Just to let you guys know, the next chapter is centered mostly around what good ol' Nortel found in his new desk. So, unless you really want to know what it is, you don't have to read the chapter. Please Review!


	8. Chapter Seven: Redemption

This Chapter is a bit of a filler... but someone asked me what happened to Samus while she was on the run from the GF. So, here you go...?

* * *

Chapter Seven: Redemption.

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 2nd of June.

Location: Planet Norion, Center Of Galactic Federation Military Procedures

Nortel was deeply involved in the document he was reading. According to the document he was reading, Samus Aran had been in service for the Galactic Federation for more than just four years. Apparently, she had a deeper connection with the federation, which went back to when she was a child. But that wasn't what really caught his attention. After shuffling through the papers he was reading, he came across a folder labeled: Postponed and Regulated. He opened it, and found a bounty paper with Samus Aran's face on it.

"Wait…could this be a folder documenting the missing year of Samus Aran? Is this the fabled Renegade Year?"

He began to read the paper intently.

* * *

Galactic Federal Report #2849345453

Subject: Samus Aran, Bounty Hunter.

Status: Expelled and Declared Enemy of Civilization.

Info: In the Year 20X8, Cosmic Calendar, Samus Aran was sent on her 8th Mission to The BSL Station set in orbit over Planet SR-388.

Accompanied with her computer guide, once known as General Malkovich, she was sent to investigate an explosion that occurred soon after BSL Team Researchers dropped off a batch of infected organisms in the quarantine bay. Samus then regulated the oncoming flow of X-parasites that had infected the organisms in the quarantine bay.

However, the X won, and every single living thing on the Station, save five organisms, were killed and consumed by the X. The Galactic Federation then gained interest in the X, and departed from headquarters to acquire the X-Parasite. However, before Federal police could come to detain the creature, Samus Aran destroyed the X and the BSL Station, and crashed it into SR-388.

Because of her actions against the Federal State, Samus is now considered a terrorist for her actions, and a bounty is placed upon her head for 30000000000 credits.

EDIT: Samus Aran is no longer an enemy of the Federal State. After protecting the universe from the Space Pirates' new weapon, the Project Metroid Dread, and defeating the enemy of civilization Hunter Sylux, Samus is now being redeemed for her undying loyalty to the universe. Also, Samus has been awarded as a Galactic Hero for her noble deeds.

Edit issued by Admiral Adam Malkovich, 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 5th of February.

* * *

Nortel finished reading the paper. He had never known about what had happened to Samus during that year. Apparently, it was kept secret and hush-hush. He was still pondering about what caused the Galactic Federation to accuse her so, however. He placed the folder on his temporary desk.

A man with a dark blue suit came into the room. "General -- I mean, Chief-Admiral Nortel, you are needed to discuss the next move against the Space Pirates with the war council. Apparently, they are preparing a strike upon Planet Aerocitadel. Are you prepared, or should we wait?"

"Of course not. I'm sure they hate long waits as much as I do."

I'm sure he hates long chapters, too. The next one is going to be definitely longer than this one, so be patient, people.

um...review please?


	9. Chapter Eight: The Man without Flesh

Woooo... this one was a doozy to make. So far, this is my longest one. BTW, forgot to mention before that there is a SATWE Discussion forum called Adorios's Victim List, here on FanFic net. If you want to discuss this story more socially, please go there if you want.  
Please read, for this one will blow your socks off.

* * *

Chapter Eight: The Man without Flesh.

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 2nd of June.

Location: Unknown Planet at the Rim of the Forrester System.

Samus's ship landed to the ground, keeping itself steady with propulsion boosters. Samus then regulated the ship's energy cells so that it wouldn't die while they were gone, and she put her helmet on. Adam pressed a few buttons on the control panel, and locked the ship's access, so if anything came into the ship, they couldn't leave the planet. Samus then drained the ship's oxygen back into the tanks, and opened the airlock.

As she stepped onto the planetoid's surface, her first impression was that it was unbearably dark outside. But then, she noticed that the planet wasn't pitch-black, but it was only covered in black plants. She switched on her X-ray Scope to give her a little definition of what was around her. Adam tapped a few small buttons on the side of his head, and his eyes turned green, blazing with night- vision light. Samus looked at the corner of her visor for any bio-scan alerts, and was surprised to see that there was an intense concentration of life to the north of her. Following her radar, she walked toward the life-signs.

"Adam, has this sector of the Forrester System ever been charted? It seems too dark for any life to thrive out here." Samus said.

"Even I have never seen the farthest depths of the universe, Milady. We must be cautious."

Samus neared closer to the objects on her radar, and as she was nearly right next to one, she bonked her head on something.

"Ow! What the hell was that?" She looked up and saw she ran into a tree.

"I believe you just ran into something that looks like a tree from Planet Earth, most likely a Baobab Tree."

"A what tree?"

"A Baobab tree, Milady. It is a very long-living tree, for it can live for 6000 years."

"But…this one is pitch-black."

Also, it was the source of her search for life-forms. She knocked on it a few times, and a moan was heard from the trunk.

"Adam, I think someone is in there!"

"No… I am the one you heard…" The tree said.

Samus jumped back quickly. "The tree just talked!!"

"I am not a…tree…I am a creature called a Nolss. All of us are Nolss, and we protect this planet, Planet Holdd. I have…seen you…in my dreams. We are…prophesiers…and we can change time if the god Chronos allows it."

"Wait…you say you can control time?"

"We have altered the timeline of the universe many times before. We do it to avert anything that may ruin the universe completely. But recently, we had done something awful…"

"What? What did you do?"

"The man behind you…he knows about the Galactic Federation, yes?"

"…Yes. What does it have to do with the Galactic Federation?" Adam replied.

"If you know of Galactic Federation knowledge, then you should know about Metalloid."

"I have never heard of it. What is 'Metalloid'?"

The Nolss paused. "He is a mistake. Around 120 years ago, the Galactic Federation was planning to create an organic supercomputer called the Aurora Unit. Originally, the plan was going to fail, and the sciences of the universe would wither and die soon after. We foresaw a different timeline, however, and saw a land of peace and wisdom if the supercomputer had been created successfully. So, we asked the god Chronos if we may alter the timeline. He approved of it, and we made it so that the computer would be a success.

The AU 001 then started to govern the universe into a land where all was equal and logical. But then, the AU did the unthinkable. It considered the Republic of the Joheran Galaxy not fit for the universe, and would not allow them to enter the Galactic Federation. This is where things were not happening the way they should have. The Joheran Republic was outraged, and they then became the Space Pirate Confederacy, and they sought to destroy the Galactic Federation since.

But, things became worse. A rip in the fabric of time and space opened, and an entity from a dark world came forth. This creature was the fabled Lord of the Dead, Necrolos. Because of the fluctuation of time and space, he was able to escape from his land of the dead to wreak havoc in our world. He caused many different problems for the universe, including the creation of the X-parasites, and the creation of Phazon. When he came through, he injured himself badly. A drop of blood landed on the planet SR-388, and created the X; while a piece of flesh broke away and evil power came forth to produce Phazon. When he came, he needed a new body. So, he possessed the malfunctioning AU, and turned it into Metalloid, a creature of living metal.

The Metalloid then started to kill anything that got in its way, bringing more and more to his realm. But when a man offered himself to the Metalloid, he was considered by the creature. Removing his spirit from his body, Metalloid encased the ghost in a metallic armor, creating him invincible and immortal. The servant was named Adorios, and he now carries out the evil deeds of Metalloid."

* * *

Adorios was currently dragging Ridley's head across the desert to the Space Pirate encampment. When he got there, the Space Pirates blocked his way.

"You no need to see us. We are good enough to fight and win ourselves."

"Not anymore, soldier, because your leader is dead again. Samus Aran killed him brutally and cruelly, trying to make him feel the pain of his enemies. I have come to bring you his remains for cloning, and in his place, Ridley appointed me to lead you all to victory while the cloning process was in effect. Here is the proof of the deal." Adorios held up a holo-projector, which displayed a sort of will. The Space Pirate looked closely at the projector, and then nodded. He stood up, saluted at Adorios, and asked for orders.

"We are to go to the Planet Aerocitadel to destroy the capital. Samus and the other bounty hunters will be there as well. Also, we are then to split up afterwards, going to Planets Fravellius and Gorodan. There are items at each planet that will be necessary for our victory. We are to depart in a day, to meet up with the hunters and beat them. Is this clear to you all?"

Roars and shouts of approval filled the canyon. Adorios nodded, and waved them off. He entered a tent, and requested privacy for a moment. When he was certain he was alone, he placed his palm flat out in front of him, and six spheres rose from his hand, five smaller around one large. He tapped the largest sphere, and it flickered into life. The spheres started to speak.

"Adorios, have you activated the beams yet?"

"Yes, my powerful master. In fact, they should be passing the planet you are on. I have also gained the control of an expendable army, master. They should be useful in distracting the Galactic Federation. The only thing that worries me the slightest bit is that Samus Aran may have learned of our plan by now. She is truly a powerful being."

"Then destroy her if she bothers you so much. Fare well on your battles, Adorios."

"Same luck to you, Metalloid."

* * *

The Nolss continued on its story. "When the Galactic Federation realized that the AU was behaving incorrectly, they left on quarantine from planet Memphis and abandoned the Metalloid, leaving it helpless and weak. But after these 100 years, he has found a way to complete his plan.

Metalloid is not only fascinated with death, but he wishes to see and know everything there is to know in this universe. But, there is one thing he does not know. He does not have the knowledge of what happens to a universe when it is destroyed. So therefore, he will try to do this first-hand"

Samus was deep in thought. "How is he going to bring out his plan?"

"The Metalloid will try to destroy this planet, for the planet you stand on is the binding for the universe's stability. If this planet would be destroyed, the universe would collapse upon itself, and the edges of space would then be torn and all existence in all universes will die."

"Can we beat Metalloid?"

"No, you cannot."

"…Can we prevent this planet from dying?"

"Yes. Since the beginning of time, Chronos, Cosmos, and Eos all came together to find a way to hold the solid principles of life in 14 clear stones. If these stones were to be brought to this planet and placed on the shrine to the north, the stones would refract and reflect the beam back to its source. Then, Metalloid will have lost."

"Where are the stones?"

"One set is on a planet of pure sky, another is on a planet of pure foliage, and another on one of pure fire. That is all we know."

Samus nodded. "We will protect this planet with all we can. Believe in us, for we will be back before this planet reaches the laser. Goodbye."

"Farewell to you Samus Aran, for you are our last hope."

* * *

When Samus got back to the ship, she noticed she was sent a message. She activated the ship's dashboard, and started up the message. A little hologram of Nortel appeared on the projector, and he started to speak.

"Samus Aran and Adam Malkovich, there has been a change of plans. Instead of returning to Norion, you must go to Aerocitadel in the Rowan System. The Space Pirates have launched an attack upon Skyray City, and are being led by a new warrior. You are to come as soon as possible. End of transmission."

"Aerocitadel?" Samus began. "Why there? The only thing they are getting from there is a whole bunch of…sky…Adam! That's where the first set of stones were placed! We have to get there immediately!"

"Understood, Milady. But, didn't Nortel say something about a new warrior? Do you think that Adorios is leading the Space Pirates? Because if he is, then he must know about the stones as well. This situation is becoming direr as we move on. We must get them before he does, or we may not have a chance to defeat him. Shall we leave?"

"Yes. Set our course to Aerocitadel!"

* * *

Nortel was pacing across the room back and forth when Samus got to the G.F.S. Olympus's control room. He smiled to her, and saluted to Adam.

"Thank you for getting here so quickly, Samus. You know how much I hate long waits. And Chief-Admiral Malkovich, I believe that it is time for you to return to your place in command."

"I…think that it would be fine if you commanded this fleet for a bit longer. I still have some business to take care of on Skyray City." He looked at Samus, and winked at her.

"I honor your choices, Adam. Anyway, there have been reports of a new commander in the Space Pirate legions. According to reports of him, he is a man in silver armor that seems to withstand any weapon shot at him. Also, he has destroyed six of our cannons so far, and is headed for the capitol building. You, Samus, are to try to destroy him like you would Ridley. If this does not end up well, then we may have slim chances in the war. Adam, you are to accompany Samus in her campaign."

Adam and Samus nodded, and they left the room to the docking bay. But as they walked down one of the halls, an explosion ripped through the entire ship, knocking Samus and Adam down to the floor.

"What was that!?"

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that we should leave to Skyray immediately!"

"I have no objections!"

They sped down the halls to the landing platform, only to see an enormous Space Pirate Lord Vessel destroying the Olympus, which was so small in comparison to the SPLV. Samus got underneath her ship, grabbing Adam before he was left behind. Samus started up the controls, and shot out of the ship before anything worse happened. Samus then piloted her way to Skyray City, a city that suspended itself upon the pillow of air that made up the planet Aerocitadel.

* * *

Aerocitadel is one of the most unique planets of its kind, for it is simply a ball of gas that managed to compose itself into a self-sustaining gravity field. Many other cities were floating upon this sea of air, but Skyray was the largest one of them. Samus landed her ship upon the closest war zone she could find, avoiding fire from above. Samus shut off the ship, and rushed out to meet up with a very tired looking Phrygian. Harquar waved to her, and then he collapsed to the ground. Samus, who was already worried about Harquar, ran forward to help him up.

"Harquar, are you ok? Are you injured? Please, tell me you are ok!"

"Don't…go…after…the man in…armor…"Harquar groaned.

And then, Harquar lost consciousness. Samus, whose quick thinking was always a good tool, carried him to her ship, and placed him under the recovery apparatus. Then, she got outside, only to be knocked over by a dying GF soldier. Adam noticed this, and hefted the dead man off of her back. He pulled her up, and helped her stabilize herself.

"Samus, didn't Nortel say that Adorios was headed to the capitol building?"

"Yeah…why is he headed there anyway?"

Adam pressed a few buttons on his head again, and a hologram of a datafile appeared above his face. He read it for a few moments while they smashed their way through the opposition. He finally spoke.

"According to this, the capitol building is not only the center of all diplomatic interactions on Skyray, but it is also the historical museum as well. Knowing what Adorios is after, he is probably looking for the principle stones there. We have to get there now!"

"Okay Adam, lets go get him!"

But if only this was as easy said as done. There were still a wall of Space Pirates blocking their way, and Samus really didn't have the time. So, she started to fiddle with a panel at the base of her thigh. Adam was curious about what she was doing.

"Milady, what is wrong with your leg?"

"Adam, I want you to melt the ground around us right now, and make sure the Space Pirates get most of the damage."

Adam was curious about her plans, but he did as she told, melting the ground into a pool of molten steel. Then, Samus stopped fiddling with her leg, and she pulled out a fistful of power bombs. With all of her strength, she threw them far away into the molten lake, and they exploded. The force of the blast was powerful enough to cause a wave of molten steel to crash on top of the Space Pirates, encasing them in metal. Finally, she shot a diffusion missile at the steel, and the metal froze immediately, leaving a parade of Space Pirate statues on the street.

Samus smiled at her success, and the two of them rushed to the capitol building.

* * *

Adorios was making his way to the top of the capitol building's stairs when Samus found him. At first, Samus was trying to slash though a Space Pirate, but she saw a glimpse of silver that told her where he was. She pushed her way through the crowd to reach him.

"Adorios!!" Samus yelled angrily. She shot a missile at him, but he spun around and dodged the missile in time. She shot two more at him, but he avoided the second, and as the third sped past his face, Samus could have sworn that his fingers stretched when he grabbed it. Holding onto the missile, he spun around and threw the missile back at her. Startled, she jumped out of the missile's way, only to allow him to escape. Cursing, she chased him into the capitol building, tailed by a frantic Adam.

When Samus got into the building, she was immediately lost. The main lobby was decorated with an Ancient Earth-Roman style, with columns placed periodically on each wall. Unfortunately, the columns and corridors worked together to make the place more confusing. She turned to Adam, who was busy reading a floor-plan of the building. Before she could say anything, he pointed a finger to the hallway to the left. Samus nodded, and she crept warily to the museum hall.

* * *

Nortel was busy fighting off the Space Pirate fleet in his H-55 Viceblade. Many of his ships were being shot down, only to land in the poof of air that was Aerocitadel. He was mostly worried about the people onboard the Olympus currently, who couldn't escape the ship due to lack of escape pods.

Nortel shot a few missiles at the Space Pirate Lord Vessel, only to see that they were absorbed by the ship's energy field. The ship's cannons shot more lasers into the Olympus, which was in shield lock mode to negate enemy attacks. Slicing through several space pirate ships at once with his laser blade wings, he decided to try something more difficult.

Currently, the Space Pirate Lord Vessel was trying to tear through the G.F.S. Olympus's powerful shields. So, he decided to disarm the SPLV. Speeding toward the front of the ship, he tilted near the ship's cannons. Then, he sliced through the cannons' barrels and disabled each one consecutively. Smiling, he watched as the damaged ship started to retreat from the Olympus, preparing to shoot into hyperspace.

Suddenly, a typed transmission from Samus's ship came through, saying how she needed help immediately. Concerned about the hunter's safety, he locked on to her suit's tracking device, and shot toward the planet.

* * *

Samus crept into the museum hall, and noticed that Adorios was nowhere to be seen. Still being wary, she started to look for anything that might be a small clear stone. Sliding through the hall, she looked in every glass case for it.

"History is interesting, if I can comment on the situation. Would you agree, Samus Aran?"

Samus spun around to see Adorios standing close to her. Startled, she jumped back to keep a reasonable distance away from him. She snarled at him like a feral beast, and prepared to strike.

"Now, now…there is no need to be uncivilized in battle…" Adorios started.

Samus snapped at him.

"Very well…If you insist…" Adorios said.

Then, Adorios screamed a roar so loud that it shattered the glass cases and cracked the windows. Deafened by the noise, Samus lunged clumsily at him, but he dodged her attack. Slashing at him with her machete, she missed twice, and he blocked the third with his arm. Pushing her blade aside, he shoved her away, and started to get near a belt that had 7 clear stones embedded in it. Samus saw what he was after, and shot forth toward him. Sliding to get in his way, she stopped in front of him, and kicked him, shattering him into tiny pieces. Adorios's pieces flew every which way around the room, getting mixed in with the shards of glass that lay on the floor. Surprised by this reaction to her kick, Samus calmed down to view her surroundings.

"Did I beat him?"

"Seriously, Milady, I mean no harm when I say this, but do you really think he was defeated by a simple kick and not a machete blade?"

"Yeah…that is weird."

Samus walked over to the belt that was sitting in the center of a large podium, most likely the main exhibit. Seven stones were scattered in the belt, six light blue ones with a slightly cloudy look, and a central bronze one, which looked like it held the soul of the earth inside. She was about to reach for it when suddenly…

"Look out Milady!!"

Samus turned around to see little shards of silver lift up from the ground and piece themselves together to create Adorios body. Samus, who had never seen anything like this before, got over her surprise and crouched down into a defensive position. Adorios, who was still assembling himself, started to approach Samus.

"Seriously, Milady, I mean no harm when I say this, but did you really think I was defeated by a simple kick and not a machete blade?" Adorios mimicked.

Samus, who was already crouching, rolled into her morph ball and boosted right underneath his legs. She laid a power bomb, and it tore Adorios apart. But, the pieces still made their way back to their original position, and they gleamed just as bright as before. Samus didn't give up yet though. She then froze him with her ice beam, weakening his solidity, and shot a plasma beam blast at him, melting him into a pool of silver. Once again, however the pool slid upwards into the standing figure of Adorios. Adorios then cracked his neck, and stretched a bit.

"Lets see if you can do what I can do, Samus." Adorios said evilly.

Adorios lifted his arm upward, and after a second, it shattered apart. The pieces of silver metal then spun around in a little cloud of shards, and they collided back into the arm. This time, though, they were formed together to shape an arm-cannon. Adorios laughed, and he shot a purple beam at Samus's head. She ducked quickly, avoiding the deadly beam. The beam then collided with the wall behind her, and it erased a huge portion of the stone wall. Samus got up to see Adorios laughing his head off. He calmed down after a bit.

"I call it the Decomposition Beam. It decomposes anything it touches. But the best part is its counterpart." Adorios said. Then, he shot another beam at her, but this time it was white. She was too slow to avoid it again, and it hit her, encasing her in the stone wall portion that was just erased. Stuck up to her neck, she struggled to break free.

"That one is called the Composition Beam. Using what I just erased as ammo, it will fill in any gap or encase whatever it touches." He re-formed his arm into an arm, and made his way to the belt. Samus started to charge up her ice beam inside the rock, expanding the rock's cracks. Then, she shot a plasma blast, and the rock exploded. She turned around to face Adorios, but it was too late. Adorios was holding the belt in his hand, and electricity was spraying from each stone in it.

Adorios laughed. "Behold the power of the earth stones!!" he screamed, and the walls around them started to crumble and shake. Suddenly, the walls cracked apart, and they flew into the air, spinning around in an earthen cyclone. Samus, who hoped there was any way to beat him, tried to shoot Adorios, but his body seemed to take no damage.

"You are a silly fool, Samus. The universe will die no matter what you do!" Adorios yelled over the deafening grinding of the cyclone. But then, a faint whining could be heard. Trying to hear better, Samus leaned forward. The whining became louder, and Nortel's Viceblade suddenly shot through the cyclone's walls and sliced Adorios in half. The cyclone fell, and Adorios let go of the belt. Seizing the opportunity, she jumped over and grabbed the belt. The belt started to release electricity again, and the rocks around her started to float. Adorios put himself together again, only to have his face smashed in by a rock. Fixing himself, he realized that Samus now had the belt. With no other choice, he dissipated into dust, and flew away with the wind. Samus sat down, and dropped the floating rocks.

Adam walked over to her. "Are you ok, Milady? I have a feeling that he is after the next set of stones. What is your opinion?"

"My opinion is that you need to contribute more to the battle next time. By the way, did you call for Nortel then? Because that was some good thinking you made."

"No…it wasn't me…"

The Viceblade landed from the little stunt Nortel maneuvered. Nortel climbed out of it, and immediately came over to Samus. He helped her to her feet, and brushed some dirt off of her suit.

"Are you okay Samus? I got your distress signal, and it looks like I got her just in time."

"Distress signal? I didn't send a distress signal…oh no! Harquar! I forgot about him! He must have sent a DisS to you from my ship! I have to get to him immediately!"

Samus broke out into a run to her ship.

* * *

Harquar was lying on another hospital bed, breathing shallowly. His body had a huge slash on it that Samus didn't notice before. She put her hand on his shoulder, and he coughed harshly. She quickly backed up, and turned to Adam.

"Will he be ok? I mean, I left him there for who knows how long, and he was bleeding the entire time. I feel so guilty…"

Adam placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "He will be fine. Phrygians have the ability to freeze their blood to reduce blood loss. He is certainly good at surviving, that's for sure." Samus nodded at this. She looked back at Harquar one more time before she left, and followed Adam into the briefing room.

When they got there, Listal and Xorexus were waiting for them. Adam activated a hologram of the belt, and started to talk.

"After yesterday, we were able to protect this belt, which has seven stones embedded inside of its material." Adam pressed a button, and the stones removed themselves from the rest of the picture. The belt then disappeared. Adam continued. "We learned that when these stones are placed correctly on the planet at the edge of the universe, they will redirect the beam when it hits and negate a catastrophic disaster. The next set of stones will be harder to find, however, because the Space Pirate fleet has not made a move yet. So, we will have to somehow infiltrate their databases to see their battle plans. This means that we will all have to go to the Space Pirate Homeworld to do this next mission. Luckily, Samus has brought to us in the past a sample of the hazard suit tech, which will help us in the effort. Any questions?"

No-one answered.

"Good. Then we shall now make our way to the Space Pirate Homeworld!"

* * *

Finally, Adorios is revealed to Team Hunters! (Sorry, couldnt think of a better name...) And, Team Hunters has got the first of the Three sets of stones! But, it won't be as easy next time.

Next time: Return to Espionage!

Please review!


	10. Chapter Nine: Return to Espionage

Hey, World! I've been a little late in publishing this most recent chapter, had problems in life. But it's here, so, hooray! also, since Barack Obama  
was sworn into office yesterday, i fell happy that the USA has a new president. Anyhoo, please read and review the next chapter in Samus's battle against Adorios and Metalloid!

* * *

Chapter Nine: Return to Espionage.

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 4th of June.

Location: Space Pirate Homeworld.

"Ugh…do we really need to go back to the Space Pirate Homeworld? That place is such a maze. For instance, I once got stuck in between---"

"Ok! We get it! You don't like the Space Pirate Homeworld. If you don't like it so much, then you should have voiced your opinion back when Adam asked for it." Said Listal to Samus.

Samus was still unhappy about returning to the orange planet. After the last time she was there, she was quite glad when she was sent to a blue planet to infiltrate instead. After both planets though, she vowed never to visit a monochromatic planet again.

But as their small ship neared in for landing, Samus noticed that the planet was more of a steely gray instead of its usual rusty color. Adam noticed this too, and he neared the window for a look. Samus grabbed a vision-scope to see closer, while Adam's eyes zoomed in.

Looking closer, the planet seemed to be covered in a strange fibrous metal, which was growing on all of the exposed surfaces of the planet like moss. Some reaching tendrils would stretch out into the sky like a messy hairdo. To put it shortly, the planet looked like a giant metal dust-bunny. Samus looked around some more and noticed that some of the tendrils were creating little balls in space, winding around themselves to create large floating orbs like the ones on Bryyo. Samus withdrew from her sightseeing to confront the pilot, otherwise known as Xorexus.

"Having trouble finding a place to land?" Samus half-joked.

"A little. The planet seems to be growing some sort of hair that makes it more difficult to land unnoticed. There is a chance that we may be able to find a tunnel in all of this fuzz. You see anything possible?"

Samus scanned the fuzzy shell, looking for weaknesses or gaps. Suddenly, a certain point caught her eye. There was a small opening near one of the fuzz balls that was starting to get pretty large. Samus pointed in that direction for Xorexus. "Look over there. Maybe we can get over there and decide where we land after we get under the shell."

Xorexus nodded, and pointed the ship to the small hole in the fibers. Speeding ahead at first, he slowed down to squeeze himself into the steel wool. Soon, the fibers gave way to show a large cave-like complex, which looked even more like the inside of a beehive. Xorexus steered and maneuvered his way through the complicated fuzz, and found one of the Space Pirate vents Samus had gotten in through before. Slowing down just enough to see where he was going, he emerged from the end of the tube and landed on a rickety platform. He tapped a few buttons, and the side doors of the cargo vessel opened.

Samus was the first to leave the ship. Rolling out in her morph ball, she got up to see that the area was abandoned and old, and looked as if the area was scheduled for destruction. She waved to the others, who slowly crept out of the ship. Adam placed a holo-projector on the ground, which immediately showed a complex map of the area. Everyone huddled around it for a better view.

Adam spoke up. "According to the Global Positioning Scanner we have here, we are in an area which has chutes that can reach almost any main room of the complex. Most of them are mess halls, according to the map."

Listal interrupted. "So, wait…does that mean we are in a garbage dumping room?"

Everyone looked over the edge of the platform. Indeed enough, there was a huge mess of rotting food beneath their feet. Everyone turned away, grimacing.

"At least we have helmets…" said Xorexus.

"Anyways," Adam continued, "We have good access to all of the main rooms of this sector, which leads to the probability of us being able to get to a computer quickly. From there, we will need to hack into the system for the next planets on the list. Then, don't worry about coming back to the room you came into from the chutes, simply jump into a chute to reach back here. Also, know that each of us has been equipped with some weaponry essential to the mission, including the volt grapple, the hazard suit, and the plasma beam. Is everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good. Since I can basically hack into a system simply by touching it, I will go with Listal and Samus will go with Xorexus."

"Hang on…" said Listal, "What makes you think I can't do this by myself? If you send Samus with Xorexus, they won't get anything done. Even Harquar knows that Xorexus isn't good with computers."

"It's true, boss. I may be good with tech, but when it comes to software, there is no way I can get anything done."

"Oh…well, um…I guess Listal should go with Samus. I mean, you two will be ok out there, right?"

"You forget, Tinny, that my entire species is devoted to scientific discovery and computer engineering! My kinetic energy weaponry? Made it myself. I have enough brainpower to reprogram you into a drink server! So next time, think logically." Listal countered.

"Hey, I'd be happier with the wiz girl over here anyway. All computer stuff I've ever done has been with sticking my arm cannon into a slot, and tada! Map downloaded." Samus said.

Adam was a bit unnerved. "A-a-all right then, from now on, all tech missions will be split up into Samus with Listal and Xorexus with me. Anyway, we should get going. All of this noise may be enough to attract the Space Pirate hordes to this location."

Listal grumbled, and Samus pulled her with her to the nearest chute, and they climbed upwards. Adam shook his head. "Will she ever forgive me?"

"Only if you serve her drinks first." said Xorexus.

* * *

Samus was having trouble climbing the shaft. The walls were plastered in a slippery mold that stuck to her suit no matter what she did to get it off. She turned to Listal, who was having the same amount of trouble. Samus wracked her brain for ideas. The missile idea probably wouldn't work in such a tight space, and her grapple beam would be hard to access without losing her grip. Then, she remembered that her suit had her spider ball function still. She slid into morph ball, and as Listal protested, her alt form stuck perfectly to the grimy walls.

"Grab me!" said Samus's muffled voice.

Listal obliged, and as Samus rolled upwards, it became clear that Listal's hands were slippery enough to reduce unneeded friction between her hands and the ball. Soon, Samus rolled out of the cramped tunnel and into a rough acid rain. Samus and Listal stood up, and noticed that the rain washed off the slippery grime from their suits without damaging them, thanks to the hazard suit.

Samus was already lost. "See why I said this place is such a maze?"

The area they were in seemed like a lobby of sorts. Samus looked around some more, and realized that this was one of the rooms that she had been in before. There was a T shaped bridge over their heads, which blocked most of the rain. Over on the area not covered by a bridge, there was a clear glass wall and a volt grapple station. Samus pointed over at that area.

"Last time I came here, that area over there led to many of the computer labs and testing facilities. If we go in that way, we could probably beat the others to it."

Listal was a bit puzzled, "I thought you said this place is such a maze."

"It is. I just remember that volt grapple spot over there led to tech stuff."

Listal was confused. "How do you get anything done?"

Samus latched onto the grapple port with her left arm, and absorbed energy from it. The gates slowly raised, and Samus let go of the port full of energy. She shot a green plasma ball at the orange door, and Samus trudged inwards, with Listal trailing her.

* * *

Adam was awfully nervous at the moment. So, he turned off his anxiousness receptors to put him back on track. Xorexus was also nervous, but he was coping for the moment. The worse that could happen was if a turret spotted them, for they were usually equipped with cameras. As they slinked through the hallways cautiously, Xorexus noticed that there were some long cords running along the ground, the kind used for computers. He tapped Adam's neck to get his attention. Adam spun around to see what Xorexus wanted.

"Adam…you can meld with technology, correct? What would happen if you melded with a wire? Would you see where it was going? And see what it was for?"

Adam caught on to what Xorexus was implying. He grabbed the wire with his two hands, and became one with the cord. Suddenly, visions of corridors and electrical data flooded his mind, and he knew where to go. He pulled Xorexus by the hand, nearly jerking him over. They ran through the hallways to the next chamber to be greeted by a large system of computers. Xorexus smiled.

"Nice. I'm sorta glad that my commanding officer is a cyborg. You are really good at what you do."

"Thank you." replied Adam.

Adam approached the machine, and laid his entire body across it. Suddenly, the computer started to glow with a strange greenish light, which contrasted against the surrounding orange. Wires from the computer rose from the machine, and started to plug themselves into Adam's back. The wires started to pulse with energy, and Adam shuddered as the wires forced war-strategies into him.

As Xorexus watched this strange process, he caught a glimpse of something moving in his eye. Suddenly, a turret popped put from the ceiling. Xorexus yelled in surprise, and started to lift his cannon. He was about to destroy it when Adam suddenly spoke.

"Don't shoot it. Right now I'm using the cannon system to try to find Samus's location. If that one is shot, I will lose control of the system."

Xorexus nodded. He sat down on the metal floor, waiting for Adam to finish. As he waited, he noticed that strange metallic silver ooze was making its way down one of the wires. He jumped to his feet in surprise, and yelled out to Adam.

"Adam! You need to get off of that thing! Now!"

"I've almost got everything I need…"

But it was too late. The ooze landed upon Adam, and it was downloaded along with the rest of the data. Adam jerked upright in surprise, and started to move erratically. He turned to Xorexus for help.

"What is happening? What did you see?"

"Some sort of metallic slime got into you! It was kinda…silvery."

"Sil……ver…? Tha……t me…ans……A……dorios……"

Adam began to shake uncontrollably. His body kept on convulsing in a pattern, and he started to scream with a grated voice. Then, his joints started to spew silver liquid, and his screams became more intense. His form began to smoke, and his body was becoming consumed in silver metal, giving him a shiny metallic coat. When the fearful ordeal was over, Adam turned around to face Xorexus.

"Hello, Xorexus. Welcome to your nightmares."

* * *

Samus and Listal were finally finished downloading the strategy plans. Listal stepped away from the computer, and turned to Samus.

"Time to go. You ready to break out of this place?

"Yeah."

Samus followed Listal into the next room, and instantly bumped into her.

"What's wrong?"

"That." Listal pointed.

Samus slowly looked upwards. Listal was pointing at a strange mass of fibrous steel, which was clustered around something that was breathing steadily. It was very large, and was colored in several shades of green and yellow.

"Is that…Ridley?" Listal asked.

"No…it's not, but………it can't be…"

Suddenly, the behemoth started to stir, making Samus and Listal jump in shock. The metal began to disappear into the creature's skin, and the monster began to move. A deafening roar filled the room, and Samus smiled grimly.

"What is it? Samus, tell me, what the hell is that monster?"

"The largest member of the Space Pirate army…"

Samus walked up to the giant green lizard, and confronted it while it roared."

"Hello, Kraid."

* * *

All right! Kraid is finally in SATWE! Go Kraid, go Kraid!... and Xorexus is ready for the fight of his life...

Anyhoo, the next chapter will be good, trust me.

Next Chapter: Friends and Enemies.


	11. Chapter Ten: Friends and Enemies

Hi, people! sorry i'm late on publishing this chapter. First off, i would like to thank two very special people upon the creation of this chapter. the first is sylux125 of Metroid Headquarters, who is the person responsible for creating Dystereos, and i would like to thank kenji imatake of Metroid Headquarters, who is the creator of Nero. I also give special thanks to StrafeHunter of Metroid Headquarters and Retroid Studios, for his support on the next installment in the series. He WAS supposed to have appeared in this part, but i couldnt fit him in it. so, sorry Strafe.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Ten: Friends and Enemies.

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 4th of June.

Location: Skyray City, Aerocitadel.

Adorios was currently doing what he didn't do often: hiding. He was usually very good at going upon the offensive, destroying his enemies. But currently, he needed to recoup himself. Losing to Samus and losing the stones wasn't the worst that could happen, it was the fact that he was currently stuck on Aerocitadel with nowhere to go. Adorios sat down in an alley, thinking of possible stratagems. As he pondered, someone walked up to him. Adorios looked up.

"Who are you?"

"Hello, Adorios, it seems that we, Ah, have similar interests in the destruction of a common enemy: Samus Aran. I would be willing to help, if you do not mind. Samus and I have quite a history of brutal battles, and of course, she has beaten me each time. I would like to get my revenge on her, and I suppose you would as well. What do you say? Should we, team up?"

Adorios looked at the person warily. The man was still in the shadows, and Adorios couldn't exactly see what he looked like. He decided to test him.

"A team-up would be a good plan, yes. However, I would need to see your strength, your power. My master, Metalloid, would have to deem you worthy of being one of his allies, so I am not sure…"

"You need me to prove my worth? HAH! I have destroyed entire armies, conquered planets, and even battled GODS! Nothing will stand in my way of revenge against Samus!"

The man pulled out a sword from the shadows, and sliced a nearby support beam in half, as if cutting air. The beam itself was precisely 5 feet thick, and now had a clean cut through it. Adorios admired his power.

"Very well. I have seen that you are quite, let us say, determined about defeating Samus. If you wish to become my ally, then you will take this sphere."

Adorios placed his hand out, and a silver metal ball was set in his palm.

"Just know that when you take this ball, you will never be able to change you mind again; your fate will be set."

The man looked at the suspicious ball for a moment, and then palmed it. "Let us go forth, then. I have a ship that might be useful; it can travel through hyperspace faster than any other ship made. It will definitely help us on our mission."

Adorios nodded. "What is your name? You seem to know mine."

"My name is Dystereos. Remember it well, for it will be the name of the legendary hunter who destroyed Samus Aran!"

* * *

Adam lunged at Xorexus with astounding speed. He slashed forward, slicing several power cables as Xorexus jumped out of the way.

"Adam! You need to stop what you're doing right now! I seriously don't want to attack you!"

Of course, Adam ignored him. "Pitiful organic! Running will not protect you at all! I can connect with the entire system around me, and cause it to attack you indefinitely!"

Adam punched the wall with a clenched fist, and energy pulsed out of his arm. Soon, turrets popped out of the ceiling like machine guns, and shot lasers at Xorexus with equal force. Xorexus pulled a blue shield from his pack, and the energy bolts bounced off harmlessly.

"If I cannot get to your mind, I will have to shut you off!" Xorexus said. He put away the shield, and pulled out a purple triangle. He pressed a few hidden buttons on it with extreme speed, and the triangle expanded, energy running along the edge of the device. He threw it straight at Adam, launching it at him with amazing force. As it closed in on him, though, Adam stepped towards the wall suddenly. He pushed himself into it, and he disappeared. The disc smashed against the wall that Adam vanished into.

"Huh? How did he---"

Suddenly, an arm popped out of the floor by his feet. Startling Xorexus, it grabbed his ankle. Xorexus tried to shake it off, but the grip was of metal, and could not be broken. As Adam rose from the floor below, Xorexus sank, his legs becoming trapped in the ground. Xorexus struggled feebly.

"What…do you want?"

"Nothing really," Adam replied, "I simply have to fulfill my master's bidding, AND DESTROY AND CONTROL EACH AND EVERY ONE OF SAMUS'S ALLIES!!!!!" Adam screamed. He began to laugh evilly, as Xorexus tried even harder to loosen himself. Adam's laughter slowed down, and he placed his palm outward. A ball of silver metal rose from his hand, and he placed it above Xorexus's head.

"You will be added to the army of Metalloid, and will fight against Samus to destroy her! Are there any last requests before you are removed from your body forever? "

Xorexus smiled. "No, I don't have any requests, but I do have a comment. Next time, trap my arms too." Xorexus pulled another purple disc out, and he smashed it against Adam's torso. A wave of purple energy emanated from the disc, and Adam convulsed. He jerked into positions that would kill a normal human being, and then collapsed into a crumpled heap. Xorexus sighed, and relaxed.

"Thank goodness I'm good with tech. Now, how do I get out?"

* * *

Adorios walked along Dystereos. The route they were taking kept them in the shadows, but was still long and tiring. It didn't matter to Adorios about becoming tired, since he had no problem with it, but it was still a bit boring. Adorios turned towards Dystereos. He still couldn't see his face or apparel. Adorios spoke.

"Your ship might be the fastest ship in the universe, but it is certainly taking a slow time to reach it. Where is it, and how long will it take us to get there?"

"It's by the edge of town, near the Zoomer Tavern. If it's taking so long for you, then why not try to beat me there?

Dystereos suddenly burst into a speedy form, running at insane speed. Adorios chuckled, and turned into dust. He shot as fast as light to the ship, and appeared in it a second later. He looked around. Inside the ship, there was a large amount of trophies, each one representing a time of Dystereos's victories. Adorios stepped towards the dashboard of the ship. He touched it lightly, and it filled him with all of the ship's logs. Reading each one as fast as possible, it came to him that Dystereos was indeed a pure enemy of Samus, for each log recorded each battle they fought. He would serve the purpose of Metalloid well. As Adorios read the logs, something appeared in the ship as well, causing Adorios to lose his focus. He spun around.

"And who might you be?" he said.

* * *

"Samus? Who is Kraid?"

Samus was staring at Kraid, scared slightly and in awe. It had been four years since Samus had seen Kraid, and she was itching for a battle with him. What was currently on her mind, though, was questioning why the Space Pirates had never re-cloned him instead of Ridley.

"Kraid……is like a deformed Space Pirate. I'm not entirely sure about all of the details, but I do know that he is the second general of the Space Pirate legions. He may look sluggish, but he is anything but such. I've battled him twice before, but never like this." Samus said to Listal.

Listal smiled. "Wanna take on him together?"

"We don't have much of a choice, do we?"

Samus ran off in one direction, shooting at Kraid's face, while Listal ran in the other direction. Listal jumped up to the wall, and attached herself there. Aiming carefully at Kraid's face, she shot a burst of kinetic energy at his stomach. When the beam hit, Kraid's stomach bent under the force of the beam, and Kraid regurgitated a fountain of silver liquid. The silver stuff hit the ground, and it turned itself into several small Kraids. Each Kraid was completely silver, and had red eyes. They began to shoot small silver spikes out of their stomachs at Samus. Samus dodged each one, and continued her onslaught of attacks on Kraid's face. Then, one of her beams hit Kraid's eye. He began to scream, leaving his mouth open. Samus yelled to Listal.

"Launch a speed missile into there! It might completely take him out!"

Listal nodded, and expertly shot a missile into his throat, causing damage on the inside. He screamed more, and then promptly exploded, leaving blobs of goop and metal everywhere.

"Well, that was extremely easy, wasn't it?" Listal said.

"One thing you should know about your new career, Listal," Samus said, "Is that the battle is never over until the door is unlocked."

"Huh…?" Listal began. But as she spoke, the metal slime started to regroup itself. It formed itself into a large reptilian skeleton, becoming a reinforced set of steel bones. Samus nodded.

"I knew it wasn't over. But, in the meantime, I've always wanted to battle a Meta-Kraid."

The skeletal Kraid roared, and began to trudge towards the two hunters below.

* * *

Adam woke up wearily. "Ohhhhhhh… what happened?"

He looked around himself for a bit, and then noticed that Xorexus was stuck partially in the ground.

"Hello, Adam. You wouldn't mind pulling me out of this, would you?"

"Umm…what is happening here? I seriously have no clue."

"This thing," Xorexus held up a bottle that was holding a metallic slime in it, "Was inside your body. I had to shut you down and scrape off every single speck of this crap so that when you woke up, you wouldn't kill me." The bottle shook violently, leaning towards Xorexus's head. Xorexus looked at it with an annoyed look on his face.

"Do you seriously think you are going to get me? Nice try, but no." Xorexus pulled a black plate out of his pack. Placing the bottle on the ground, Xorexus smashed the plate down onto the bottle, making it disappear with a garbled scream. Xorexus put away the plate and turned to Adam.

"I think you have fully proved your incompetence today. Now, can you pull me out?"

* * *

"Samus! What are we going to do now? That thing cannot be destroyed! And as you said, the door is still locked!"

"Shut up, Listal." Samus snapped. "If there is anything I hate about bounty hunters, it's when they lose all hope on the situation because they are about to die. So, shut up and think carefully. What are this thing's abilities?"

"I don't---"

Suddenly, Meta-Kraid took in a deep breath, and shot out a deathly purple beam from his mouth. The beam hit the wall behind them, and a large chunk of the wall disappeared. It dawned upon Samus that this thing was much like Adorios, with abilities and weapons like his.

"Listal, do you have anything that can reflect weapons back at its source?

"No, but Xorexus does…"

"Gah! He's probably half-way across the complex by now. I'm going to have to call him."

Avoiding more purple blasts from Meta-Kraid's mouth, Samus tapped a few small buttons that were on the temple of her helmet. A com-link indicator appeared on her helmet, and communication between her and Xorexus began.

"Xorexus! Where are you? I need your help!"

Xorexus replied. "You need my help? Let me tell you, miss, I have had the worst time while we split up! Adam just tried to kill me, though it wasn't his fault, and I'm still stuck in the floor!"

-Stuck in the floor?- Samus thought. "Nevermind that! Is there a dumbwaiter in the room you are in?"

"Huh? Oh, um…I think…yes! There's one on the other side of the room. Why do you ask?"

"Put your shield on it, and set the coordinates to 'Quarantine bay'! Get Adam to put it there!"

In the room Xorexus was in, Adam got the instructions, and grabbed the shield. He ran over to the dumbwaiter, and placed the shield onto it. Setting the coordinates as Samus commanded, he pressed the send button, and it vaporized into thin air.

In Samus's room, the dumbwaiter glowed suddenly, and a blue device appeared on the receiving platform.

"Thanks, Xorexus. I promise I won't break your little toy."

"It's not a toy, it's a complicated piece of hardware designed to---"

Samus shut off the com-link. "I don't have time for that right now." She said. Pressing a few buttons on the small ball that was a shield, it suddenly projected a blue force-field, creating a small dome like an umbrella.

"Well, at least I can stay dry from the acid rain now…"

Meta-Kraid took in another deep breath, and several purple beams shot from his mouth, directly at Samus. Closing her eyes, she held up the shield hoping it would work, and braced herself for the impact.

Nothing happened.

Opening her eyes, she noticed that each beam was currently latched to the shield, trying to break through with no avail. Meta-Kraid was still shooting beams at Samus, and they kept on piling upon the mass of purple on the force-field. Smiling, Samus pushed the shield forward, and every single beam flew directly at Meta-Kraid. The beams covered his body, and as he screamed, he disintegrated, leaving no trace of the silvery metal.

Samus breathed a sigh of relief, and sat down. Listal, however, was still standing there, shivering as he stood in the middle of an area pock-marked with decomposition blasts. Samus smiled to herself. She owed her life to two people now.

* * *

Adorios was facing towards someone hidden deep in the shadows. Adorios was beginning to become exasperated with people not showing their faces to him, for it got on his nerves. He asked the being again.

"Who are you? And why are you here?"

The being replied with a slightly heavy voice. "My name is Nero. I have come to discuss alliance with you." His body shifted irregularly in the shadows, contorting into positions unimaginable.

-Oh, no, not another one.- Adorios thought. "Why do you wish alliance with me?"

"Because I have wished to get revenge upon Samus for a long time…and I will do it with you. I also have deep interest in the elemental stones, as well…"

"I seem to be meeting many people who wish to kill Samus today. I think it may be a good idea, but we will have to discuss our terms of agreement…" Adorios said slyly, approaching Nero slowly…

* * *

Well, that's it people. i know i kinda introduced two new people in a slightly rushed manner, but hey, they have a very important part in the story. please review, and get ready for...

Next time: Intrigue on Diaban!


	12. Chapter Eleven: Intrigue on Diaban!

Hello people! this chapter isn't action packed, but please enjoy anyway.

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Intrigue on Diaban!

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 6th of June.

Location: Planet Diaban: Capital Planet of The Galactic Federation

Chairman Keaton, the Chairman and Prime Minister of the Galactic Federation, was quietly sitting in his office. He knew this day would come to him sometime, and he knew that the Galactic Federation would suffer a terrible blow. He knew what his fate was.

Suddenly, a call from the main office came in. "Chairman, the man you appointed with is here. He wishes to speak with you."

"Allow him in." Keaton said. He fidgeted with his fingers nervously.

A moment later, his door opened. Three people stepped inside. One of them was humanoid, but had an extremely gelatinous physique. His body shifted uncontrollably. The creature looked around, and found a chair where he settled himself, his shifting actions slowly subsiding. The second person was wearing a dark cloak, hiding his face, and was carrying the sheath of a large yet thin sword. He also sat down, and laid his sword across his lap. The third was encased in a pearly white armor, having a very large W-like shape on his chest, colored in a greenish black, while other places on his armor were colored in the same way. His head was in the shape of a boomerang, and had a visor similar to one that Keaton had seen before. The man pulled a chair up right in front of Keaton's desk, and sat down.

Keaton, a member of a humanoid species that had two antennae protruding from their forehead, was slightly intimidated by his company. He swallowed, with no result due to his dry mouth, and spoke.

"I understood you would like to speak with me, as leader of the Space Pirate Confederacy."

The man in armor spoke. "Indeed I would." His voice was raspy and metallic, yet soft and commanding. It was hard for Keaton to ignore the voice, but even harder to listen to it. He swallowed dryly again.

"I also understand that you would like to discuss a peace treaty with me."

The man nodded slightly. "Indeed I would." The two men in the back of the room shifted slightly, for they were impatient of this matter. The man in the cloak spoke.

"Adorios, you might be able to live eternally, but we back here are not as resilient as you, in body AND mind"

The man Keaton now knew as Adorios turned to the cloaked man, and nodded. "Sorry, I simply do not want to intimidate the man."

The gelatinous person spoke next. Surprisingly, his voice was rather normal sounding.

"I have no impatience in this matter, Adorios. You can take as long as it needs."

"Thank you, Nero. But, I do not wish to bore the man, either. So, I guess I will have to do a medium-length meeting."

Adorios turned to Keaton again, who jumped a little when he did. Adorios sat back in his chair, and finally spoke to him.

"As leader of the Space Pirate Confederacy, I would like to discuss a peace agreement with you. I personally would not like to engage in unfriendly combat any longer. You must agree that his war is ruining our lives, and is a pointless conflict."

Keaton spoke, slightly surprised. "You are absolutely correct. We need to stop this soon, or the universe might as well be destroyed"

Adorios's visor gleamed, while Nero and the other man lowered their heads, as if to hide their expressions. Adorios resumed speaking. "Yes, we would definitely like to avoid doing that. The universe is very valuable to the Space Pirates."

Keaton was relieved. "All right then, what are your terms? I'm sure whatever you desire is better than endless conflict."

Adorios, whose emotions were hidden behind his dark visor, nodded. "Yes. My terms are rather simple. For 10 years, you are to deliver around five thousand Afloraltite to the Joheran Home-planet, known as the Space Pirate Homeworld to you, every 6 months."

Keaton thought for a moment. "That would be…over one hundred thousand afloraltite in total! That is quite a lot. I'm not entirely sure if we could get together that much fuel in so little time."

"You don't seem to have a choice in this matter, Chairman. The Space Pirates themselves want this, it is not my demand. I cannot control EVERY one of my people…so there is no telling what a single disgruntled Joheran could do out there…"

Keaton lay silent for a moment. He spoke again, his voice a bit quaky.

"V-very well." He swallowed, a bit more moisture than last time. "What is your second request?"

Adorios lowered his head, as if smiling evilly. "We shall discuss this for a bit, if you do not mind…"

* * *

Samus and Listal left the room they battled the Kraid-creature in, exhausted from battle. Samus leaned against the wall for a moment, and then looked at her clock. Apparently, they had been on the planet for exactly 5 hours, which was way above the limit they discussed earlier. They were aiming for less than 2 hours, three hours maximum, on this mission, so that they could avoid being noticed by the Space Pirates. Also, they had made a large amount of noise while they were there. So, how come they haven't been attacked yet?

Listal spoke first. "We made a lot of noise, didn't we?"

"I'm thinking the same thing you are. I mean, this place DID seem a little bit empty when we came, even the mess hall chutes weren't dumping food like they should have been."

"Perhaps it was a trap?"

Samus shook her head. "I think we already sprung both of the traps. Adam got attacked by the Metalloid-slime, and we faced off against the Metalloid-Kraid. Somehow, Adorios knew we were going to go to those areas. But how he knew, I don't know…"

"Hm…………wait…what about the metal fuzz outside? If the Space Pirates left the planet completely, then wouldn't they need to use really large ships to get out?

"Yeah, they have these really large ships called Lord Vessels. They're almost the size of a medium city………hey……wait a minute………how would they have gotten them off of the planet?"

"Precisely. If this fuzz has been growing here and has grown enough to create a mass large enough to cover the planet, then they must have left the planet a long time ago. However, the computers here contain all battle plans for up-to-date events. So…why is it feel like the Space Pirates are giving us the info we need?"

Listal suddenly began to tap a few buttons on her arm. Curious, Samus stepped over to her. As soon as she got near, a holographic screen was projected from Listal's arm. Listal began to read the info, and Samus joined in.

"Look at this." Listal finally said. "According to these battle plans, The Space Pirates have left for two planets: Gorodan, where most of their troops are situated, and…………"

"What is it?" Samus asked

"The second planet they left for is…Fravellius?"

"What's Fravellius?"

"Fravellius is supposedly the planet where the gods reside, a paradise of life. But, it's only a myth…the supposed coordinates lead to a red supergiant. If the planet did exist once, it would have probably been eaten up by the star."

"According to this though, they had successfully landed upon Fravellius. If it's a myth, they why are they on the planet? Space Pirates aren't exactly the type of species to lie, so there must be a way to get to the planet."

"You're right…I wonder what Adam thinks."

Listal tapped some more buttons on her arm, and Adam's robotic face appeared on the screen.

"Adam, did you read the info we picked up yet?" Listal and Samus both said at the same time. They glanced at eachother for a moment, surprised by the simultaneous response.

Adam replied. "Yes…and I must say it is most puzzling. Fravellius doesn't exist on the modern space-chart, and about Gorodan…"

"What about it?" They both replied again.

"It's a planet made of molten rock." Xorexus suddenly bumped in, annoying Adam. "The planet is in a solar system that has three stars orbiting another star. The planet is one of the few that are there, but the heat from all four stars around it has kept it from forming a solid crust. It's basically a planet of hell."

"I'm pretty sure my Varia Suit tech can protect us out there, and maybe even the Hazard suit, but I don't think Harquar could help us much there…"

Xorexus smiled. "Yeah, he would need your Varia, your Hazard, your Gravity, your…"

"Enough, Xorexus." Samus said. "We first need to get off this planet. Is everyone near a dumping chute?"

"We're already here." Xorexus said. He moved from the screen, and the ship was there in the background.

"What!?" Samus yelled. "Come on Listal, we gotta go!"

"Why-y-y?" Listal yelled as she was being pulled by Samus.

"Because A, we need to get out of here, and B, I just got beaten by a guy…"

* * *

Keaton was reading the treaty he had made with Adorios. The terms were quite harsh, and Keaton wasn't sure if he could carry them out. But he had to do so, for the life of the universe was hanging off this treaty…

* * *

Well, that's it! the next chapter will definitely shock you. What was in the treaty Keaton made? we will all find out in:

The Next Chapter: Arrest, Execution, and Cafeterias!


	13. Chapter Twelve: Title Inside

Be prepared...for cafeterias...

* * *

Chapter Twelve: Arrest, Execution, and Cafeterias!

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 7th of June.

Location: Planet Diaban: Capital Planet of The Galactic Federation.

The ship Samus and her allies were in began its descent upon Planet Diaban. The planet, which was large in its grandeur, was the center of ALL Galactic Federation activity, and was dressed appropriately. The planet was coated in cities that engulfed entire mountains, oceans, and even the skies. People might be disappointed in the city's existence, but the good point was that the planet was originally a dead one, so the planet had no life on it when the Galactic Federation covered it up. The only part of the planet that wasn't covered in city was the north pole of the planet, where the federal prison was located, isolated from all life except the life inside of it.

Samus looked down upon the planet. She hadn't been to Diaban in over 4 years, before her Zero Mission. That was also a bit after the time when she was a Galactic Federation Cop, a life that she was happy to leave behind…

Xorexus stepped up behind Samus. He tapped her on the base of her neck to get her attention, and she spun around, surprised and her machete out of its cannon. Also surprised, Xorexus stepped back two feet, to give her space.

Samus, relaxed, and spoke. "You know, Xorexus, instead of tapping peoples' necks, you could just say 'hi'."

Xorexus nodded shamefully. "Sorry, Samus. I only wanted to talk to you."

"Ok then, speak."

Xorexus nodded. "What is your opinion upon Planet Diaban?"

"Um, that's a strange question to ask. I think it's a nice planet. I usually spend my time in large grandiose caverns. A visit to the city is always a relaxing break from nature."

"No, I mean, what do you think about what happens there?"

Samus was silent. "Well, not much, usually. The planet is, after all, the Capital of The Galactic Federation. I can't really give much opinion on it. The only thing I don't really like is the fact that the federal prison is held here."

Xorexus nodded again. He stepped over to the window Samus was near, and looked down upon the planet below. Samus leaned against the wall of the ship, staring at Xorexus with a sympathetic curiosity. Xorexus, who had suddenly been in a small trance, looked back at Samus, and smiled.

"I'm just being paranoid. I probably shouldn't ruin your liking for cities."

Samus gave him a quizzical eyebrow, but then smiled back. "Well, thanks, I guess."

They both stood in silence for a moment. Samus spoke up first, to break the awkwardness of the situation.

"I'll go see how the landing is doing."

Samus walked out of the passenger area, and into the cockpit of the ship. She sat down into the empty seat that was by Adam, and leaned slightly over his shoulder.

"Hey." Samus whispered. "How's things doing so far?"

Adam looked at Samus for a moment, and then returned his metallic gaze to the planet's surface. "Things are O.K., I suppose. I mean, I'm only landing a ship. It's not a hard task to do."

"Right, sorry…" Samus said. Even though she had left her awkward space with Xorexus a moment ago, it felt like she had brought it with her into the next room. She left quietly, and sat down next to Listal, who was reading the Space Pirate battle plans. –Perfect,- Thought Samus, -I can get rid of this weirdness by talking to her.-

Samus leaned close to Listal, to better see the holographic projection. Samus read some of it, and then noticed that some of it was different from what she last read. She poked a certain portion of it. "What is this from? I didn't see this when we were on the Homeworld."

Listal nodded slightly. "Neither did I. This is actually a new addition, it was sent to the computer right as I was downloading it. It seems to be a status report, but…it seems like whoever was typing it couldn't reach the keyboard…"

Samus read the report. It read: (translated) PRZSW HD,P UX! WD ARF UNCER ATGAZM FFOM THD PLAHDT!

"What?" Samus asked.

"I'll run it through the word engineer…"

Listal tapped some more buttons, and a bunch of possible word combinations, each one even more confusing, popped up. Samus tried to read each one, but they were scrolling past too quickly. As more popped up, Adam called in.

"Everyone, we're about to land upon the planet Diaban. Please fasten your seatbelts, and get ready for the touchdown."

"All right Mr. Flight Attendant…" Listal joked. Everyone sat down and fastened themselves in, and the program Listal was running shut down.

As the ship landed, the room began to heat up a little. Soon, it was hot enough to become a sauna in the room. As it became hotter, it suddenly stopped, and everything cooled down again. They had made it through the atmosphere.

On the ground, they got out of the ship, and stretched out a bit. As they pleased their joints, Three GF soldiers walked up to them. Samus nodded. "Good to see you, men. Do you know where we're supposed to go to from here?"

The soldiers ignored Samus, and walked up to Adam.

"Adam Malkovich and company, you are under arrest by Federation Law."

"WHAT!?!" Everyone yelled.

* * *

Samus and the others were inside an interrogation room of some sort. Samus had been stripped of her equipment, as the others had been too. Samus had never seen Xorexus without his suit before; he wore a dark green jumpsuit underneath, with a light orange belt around his waist. Listal wasn't with them for the moment.

A man with slightly blue hair stepped into the room. He sat down at the table that made up the center of the room, and opened a folder. He pulled out an important document from it, and laid it on the table. It was an arrest warrant, requiring the arrest and imprisonment of Samus Aran and Xorexus Residen. The blue haired man spoke.

"Samus Aran and Xorexus Residen, you are under arrest for crimes against the Galactic Federation."

"Oh yeah? What's my crime?" Samus asked angrily. Xorexus was silent.

"You are under arrest for terrorist activities against the Galactic Federation."

"Hang on." Adam interrupted, "I repealed that order exactly a year ago. There was no expiration, and no-one can repeal a decision made by a Chief-Admiral."

"Correct," Said the man, "But when that Chief-Admiral is removed from the Galactic Federation by law, then all changes made by you are null and void. Also, since you are not part of the Galactic Federation anymore, you are now in illegal possession of stolen GF technology, also known as your body."

"WHAT?" Samus yelled. "Imprisoning me is certainly unfair, but demoting and arresting the Chief-Admiral for having a body is even more absurd!"

"It's not my choice…" The man said, "It's the choice of Chairman Keaton. Now, take Samus and Adam to the Federal Prison, and Xorexus Residen is to be held in the execution chamber."

"Execution Chamber?!?" Samus said. "What has Xorexus ever done to anyone?"

"He is a dangerous criminal, charged with the murder of over 20 leaders of different planets."

"What?..." Samus whispered.

"I have almost finished my bail!" Xorexus yelled. "Please, just a bit more time!"

"Sorry, man, but your bail is now obsolete." The man chuckled, and he dragged Adam and Samus to a transport shuttle. Samus struggled.

"What's going to happen to Xorexus?! And where's Listal?"

"Listal Tirex is under the jurisdiction of her father now, Domoteras Tirex."

"Listal…is Domoteras's daughter?!?"

* * *

Listal was sitting on her bed, which she hadn't sat upon for eight years now. Two guards were positioned at her door, to make sure she didn't try to escape. She had been stripped of all of her equipment so that she wouldn't attack anyone, and all technology was taken away from her. She sat there angrily, because her friends were in terrible danger.

Suddenly, Listal's father, Domoteras, stepped into the room. He motioned the guards aside, and sat down next to Listal. Listal did not look at him. Domoteras sighed.

"Listal…you know I try to do the best for you, right?"

"………"

"…I know you like to bounty hunt, and I personally don't have anything against that. But what I do not like is who you hunt with. You know that two of them are dangerous criminals, too! Why do you still care?"

"Because she taught me much…"

"Excuse me?"

"Samus Aran taught me everything I know about what I care about!"

"Ughh…Samus…that woman; listen, Samus isn't the right mentor for you. She is a terrorist, a liar, a thief, and a menace to the Galactic Federation!"

"She is a hero, an honest woman, a charitable person, and a great asset for the Galactic Federation, no, not just the Galactic Federation, The entire UNIVERSE!"

"Shut up! I will not allow any more talk of Samus Aran from you in this house again! Go to your room!"

"I AM in my flipping room!"

"Then I will leave!"

"GO AHEAD!!!!!"

Domoteras stormed out of the room, and pushed past the bewildered guards. "Make sure she doesn't have any contact to anyone she knows, unless I allow it! And make sure she cannot have any access to a screwdriver!"

Confused, the guards nodded, and closed the bedroom door. Listal, who was muttering profanities under her breath, calmed down, and began to think.

"If I'm going to help my friends somehow, then I will have to do everything in my power to do so."

Listal looked around the room for something technological to use, and saw what she needed immediately. She got up, walked over to the bookcase across the room, and pulled out a holobook that her father had gotten for her when she was a little baby, titled: "The Three Little Geemers."

She then opened her mouth, and stuck her hand into it. Feeling around the back of her teeth, she pulled out a small datachip. Then, with her fingernails, she unscrewed the back panel of the holobook, and removed the datachip for the story. Taking the chip she just removed from her mouth, she dried it first, and then inserted it into the book. She closed the panel of the book, and turned it on. Then, the book displayed all of the word possibilities that the program she had run earlier for the Space Pirate transmission had come up with. She began to read some of the bizarre combinations that had come up, some including ones as: Please eat our home planet, we are under the moon! Listal shook her head. There was no way the Space Pirates were that dumb. As she kept on reading, one of the possibilities that came up was:

Please Help Us! We Are Under attack From the Planet!

Listal focused intently upon this one. It was intriguing, no less, but very confusing. She shook her head. Planets could not attack people, no matter how great the technology of the universe was. As she read more, the door of the room suddenly opened. Frantic, Listal shoved the book under her pillow just as the door fully opened, as Domoteras entered the room. He stood in front of her, as she glowered angrily at him. Domoteras lowered his head.

"Listal…I'm sorry for insulting your friends…and yelling at you. I never wanted to be an enemy to you; I simply want to be the best I can for you."

Listal sat there for a moment, and then stood up, and hugged Domoteras. "I'm sorry I left you, dad."

Domoteras wrapped his arms around his daughter. "I'm sorry I caused you to leave."

Of course, Listal was still mad at Domoteras…

* * *

Samus and Adam were in the back of a prison transport vessel, headed to the high security sector of the prison. Samus laid her head against the wall of the carrier, but then immediately got off of it when she noticed that the wall was covered in a green, crusty splotch of something. Samus sighed.

"Adam, how are we to stop Adorios from the inside of a high security prison?"

"I'm not entirely sure, Milady. Although, I'm am pretty sure we wont be in it for very long." Adam replied.

"Why? Because we'll be executed by then?" Samus asked.

"No, because someone in high ranks might get us out. The mission we were entrusted with is crucial to the safety to the universe, so we might be considered to be important…"

"Might? That's not very assuring…" Samus muttered.

"I'm sorry Milady; I cannot predict what the Galactic Federation's plans will be in the long run." Adam said.

"Personally, I think we may have to break out of this place."

Adam was surprised. "Milady! We cannot just 'break out'! The reasons why this would be difficult is because for one, this is a high security prison, and two, it would simply make the Galactic Federation even angrier at you!"

"Whatever. I've broken out of worse."

"You did it with at least an emergency pistol! You have nothing now! It would be imposs---what are you doing?"

Samus turned around, and began to do something with her jumpsuit top. Fiddling around for a bit, she turned around again, and in her hands she held the belt with the earth stones embedded in it.

Adam jumped. "The Earth Stones! Do you mean you had them the entire time? How-"

Samus pointed at the belt. "This thing is a belt. Where do belts go?"

"…Around your waist."

"Precisely. You just answered your question. If I'm correct, Inmates of any security are allowed one non-aggressive possession for keeps, right?"

"Yes…" Adam said.

"Then I should be able to keep this as a possession, right? I mean, no-one knows that these are the earth stones, so they should think it's just a belt."

"I suppose it would be possible…but, also, belts aren't allowed as a possession because it can be used to choke people."

Samus slapped her forehead. "Gah! I forgot about that……then there is no way I can keep them."

Adam thought for a moment. "Wait… I have some spaces inside my body that are used to store energy packets. It may be possible to put the stones inside of me, and then when we meet up again, I can deliver them to you."

Samus suddenly began to rip the stones out of the belt quickly. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's embed some stones in you!"

Adam opened the back of his body to reveal several energy ports that were empty. Luckily, there were exactly seven open. Samus placed each stone into the ports, and little clamps came down to hold each one in. Adam closed his back, and Samus picked up the belt.

"What should I do with the belt?"

"Just keep it around your waist. The prison guards will just relieve it from you later."

Samus nodded, and turned her back to Adam as she put the belt back underneath her jumpsuit top. She turned around again, and sat down. Just as she sat down, the carrier stopped with a lurch, and the doors of the vessel opened. Two guards came into the carrier with guns ready, and carried Samus away. Another guard came in, and attached an electric stabilizer to Adam's arm, to keep him from using his weapons. As Adam was led away from Samus, he suddenly realized: -Why am I being separated from Samus?-

Adam was taken to an elevator at the far end of a corridor, and it slowly descended downwards. When the door opened, he was led behind a counter that had several metal trays embedded in it. As he stood there, a plug was inserted into his neck, and he was suddenly immobile in his legs. Then he realized where he was.

The room he was in was the serving room for a prison cafeteria.

-If only Listal was here to see this now- Adam thought.

* * *

Well, that's it! please review, and get ready for the next chapter!

Oh, yeah, forgot to mention...There is a poll active on my profile, labled "Who is your favorite original Samus Aran and the war of eternity character?" or something like that. i'd seriously like to know what you think! please check it out!


	14. Chapter 13: Betrayal on a Massive Scale

This.

Is.

SATWE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey all of you people. I know that it has been a freaking long time since I last updated (like, what, four months?), and I'm sorry for the unannounced hiatus. And I know that what I managed to get done while gone is not all that impressive. But, SATWE is back, and it will continue forwards from now.

I have an announcement to make.

This chapter, and the next two are dedicated to Strafehunter of Metroid Headquarters. I thank him for his help.

All right, enough of the sentimentals. On with the Story!!!

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: Betrayal on a Massive Scale.

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 8th of June.

Location: Somewhere Above Planet Diaban.

Adorios was bored. He fiddled with his fingers, amusing himself by pulling them off and placing them in the incorrect spots on his hand. He fiddled with his rotating chair, turning around in small half-circles repeatedly. He fiddled with buttons on the dashboard of Dystereos's ship. Dystereos noticed this, and hastily ran over to Adorios.

"Ah - please don't mess with the buttons. You might press something bad, and also, it's rather childish." Dystereos's attention was suddenly brought to Adorios's fingers. "Is your pinky finger switched with you middle finger??"

Adorios sighed, and pulled back from the dashboard, switching his fingers back as he did. "I'm bored." He announced. "When is our new recruit supposed to come?"

Nero looked up from the apparent nothing he was staring at. "Well, he should be here sooner or later. I mean, it isn't very easy to travel in and out of Diaban airspace, since it is the capital of the galaxy." Nero continued looking at the nothing.

Adorios began to nod for a moment, but then realized a problem. "Actually, that made no sense at all since our guest isn't even arriving from Diaban." He replied.

Nero looked up again. "Ah, yes, good point."

Dystereos looked out the ship's window. A vast expanse of stars and planet was available to his eyes. He turned to Adorios. "I know that I do not have jurisdiction over your choices and actions, but if you will listen, the universe will end no matter what happens now. As long as Samus doesn't get the other sets of stones, then we do not need to worry about any other factors."

Adorios replied. "I know Dystereos, but even still, more teammates are always good to have around, just in ca-"

Adorios was interrupted by loud beeping coming from the ship's dashboard. "It wasn't me-" he began, but Dystereos waved him off. Looking at the radar, it showed a ship approaching their position quickly. Adorios floated his head over to the dashboard, startling Dystereos just a bit, and nodded his head.

"I believe that our guest has arrived."

* * *

Samus was bored. She was standing in line at one of the many cafeterias of the federal prison, staring at the glop that was being served to the prisoners. According to the guards, the glop was a simple mixture of pure water, iron, calcium, nutritious vitamins, and proteins. And that when put together, it had absolutely no pleasant taste. Samus looked over the food, and was hit by an awful wave of putrid smells. Gagging, she got back to breathe in less nasty air. Apparently, it had no pleasant smell either. Handing out her plate, a robotic hand scooped up some gruel, and slopped it onto the tray.

"Be careful, Milady, it has lumps."

Looking up, she saw that Adam was her server. "Why hello! I was wondering what happened to you. So, when do you think you can hand me the precious gems of earthy materials?"

Adam looked around. "I cannot give them to you yet. There are too many people nearby. I shall give them to you tomorrow, when I have had the time to remove them. In the meantime, please wait. We will be able to escape after tomorrow.

Samus nodded, and went off toward a secluded table near the back of the room. As she sat down, a tough-looking woman with a few other girls walked up to the table, fists clenched. Samus looked up from her gruel. "Can I help you?" she asked, a bit miffed.

"Yeah," replied one of them, "you can tell us what your name is."

Samus had a slight nauseating feeling about where this was headed. "My name's Samus Aran. I believe you asked because you recognized me?"

"Yeah." Said the toughest of the group.

"Well then, what do you want?"

"So does that mean you don't recognize me then?"

"No, do I have to?"

The tough one scowled. "You're the person who had me locked up in here for a twenty year imprisonment! The name's Fredra Khane, and you chased me down just because I blew up some joint by accident!"

"I remember you now…" Samus replied, "You were that chick who threw a flaming toaster at the President of Ghillic during his press conference about the outlawing of Nitrogenous explosives, which there happened to be an example of the same substance when you threw the toaster at the stage. Some good came out of that of course, since now all toasters cannot catch on fire."

"My father happened to work at a nitrogen weapon facility at the time! He was gonna lose his job because of him!"

"They have nitrogen weapon facilities?" Samus began, but returned to her point. "You performed a terrorist act. I was sent to hunt you down. It's my job."

Fredra smiled. "Well now it aint. You're locked up in the big house now, too. Which is pretty darn funny if you ask me. Why are you locked up here, anyway, Miss Bounty Hunter?"

"I dunno. Some stupid people up top had me locked up because I saved the universe from Parasite X and the last Metroids. Of course, there are now new Metroids…"

"Well, that don't matter to me. Now that you're with me, I can finally get my revenge."

Samus knew that what she saw coming was correct, and tensed a little. "Maybe I don't want you to get revenge on me."

Fredra frowned, and some of the other girls laughed. "Well aint that too bad, cause you don't have any say in what I do!"

Fredra smashed her fist into the table, and Samus leaped upwards towards the ceiling. Grabbing onto the edges of one of the light fixtures, she swung to the left and landed to the floor. Annoyed, Fredra picked up Samus's plate and hurled it at her, spraying gruel everywhere. Samus ducked, and got up smiling.

"I'll let you know that you weren't the toughest bounty to get." Samus said with a smirk.

Why the guards weren't stopping them, Samus did not know. However, this was not time to worry about that since Fredra and her gang was closing in on her. Samus looked around. More people who wanted a piece of her were getting up from their seats. She glanced to her sides, and quickly ran to the left, where there happened to be less angry people. However, this area began to fill up, and Samus was soon surrounded.

"Humans, Aliens, and all who want to get revenge on Samus Aran, Get ready for the highlight of your lives!" Fredra shouted. They all ran roaring at Samus, with an incurable bloodlust that Samus wanted to avoid. Samus looked up, since this was the only other way she could possibly go, and noticed a low-hanging rectangular light fixture. Hoping she wasn't too heavy, she jumped up and climbed on top of it, and began to dash towards the end of the fixture. When she reached the end, she leaped off of it and headed for the door. Walking rather briskly to one of the guards, she asked permission to leave to her cell. The guard gave her a "this better not be a regular thing, I saw everything that was happening" look, and opened the door for her. As the door closed behind her, she heard a rather loud, angry thud that could only be caused by many disgruntled people that were running after her.

Samus walked up to one of the clearance guards, and held her arm up to him. On her arm was a barcode that was recently tattooed into her skin. He scanned it, and plugged his scanning device into a nearby tram car. He then activated her handcuffs, two electric bonding units that were clasped around her wrists, and led her onto the tram with some other people, who fortunately didn't seem to recognize her. The guard tapped a few buttons on the tram's control board, and hopped on. The tram began to move through the corridors of the prison, dropping off prisoners at their cell blocks as it made its way around the complex. As Samus's stop came near, the guard lifted her by the shoulder and carefully led her to the cell block entrance. Handing her over to another guard, he continued to trolley the rest of the inmates around. The new guard scanned her with an X-ray unit, to see if she possessed something like a spoon or gun from any possible incident, and led her to her cell. As the door closed behind Samus, her cuffs deactivated, and she was able to move her arms again. Samus looked around in her cell. A single padded mattress, which was small yet comfortable, sat in one corner. A large sealed box sat in another. This was her toilet. The top resembled an old fashioned toilet bowl, yet on the inside, it was more like a chamber pot. When someone finished their duty on it, they would close the lid, and the vaporization process would begin. The previous design of this toilet was flawed, since a past prisoner vaporized his head inside of it once as an act of suicide. Afterward, it would only vaporize when the top was completely sealed. Last in the room was a sink with a mirror over it. Samus peered into the mirror. Because inmates couldn't carry anything other than their cuffs, prison outfits, and tattoos, her hair loop was taken from her, leaving her hair down in a slightly scrunched-up mess. Samus blew a lock of hair out of her face, and sat down on her bed, leaning against the cement wall.

"I hope I get out of here soon. I need to get Harquar, Listal and Xorexus together, and we've gotta stop Adorios. I don't know why Chairman Keaton had me arrested, but I have a feeling he was forced to do it."

She lay down on the bed, and looked at the tattoo that was on her arm.

"I also need to find a tattoo remover right after I get out."

* * *

Listal was pacing around her room. She was worried about Samus, and Adam and Xorexus. When she heard about Xorexus's execution that was happening this week, for some reason, this utterly terrified her. However, it wasn't as if it wouldn't terrify her in the first place, but it was more like that she was scared about something else. Something she may have forgotten.

Listal shook her head. She needed to stop worrying and needed to be proactive. She thought for a bit. Her father was the one who funded the efforts to stop Adorios and the Space Pirates, so she could have a chance at getting him to repeal Chairman Keaton's act. Also, since he happened to be a leader that was in the same class as Keaton, the chances would be better. However, the biggest problem was that for one, he had no idea about the impending end of the universe, and two, he hated Samus's guts.

Listal pondered on this for a while. Getting up, she walked to her door. She was gong to tell her father about the dilemma. She opened her door and told the guard that she wanted to speak with her father. The guard nodded, and held his arm out in the direction of Domoteras's office. Listal trotted through the halls of the mansion until she came to her father's office, waiting a bit nervously. She was going to knock on the door, when she heard Domoteras's voice. He seemed to be talking on the phone. Lowering her hand, she waited, since she didn't want to interrupt him. She leaned against the wall. As she waited, she heard the phone conversation happening.

"So, I assume that you were able to recruit that one man I sent you? Good. Hopefully this increases your chances of success." -Success? What is he talking about?- Listal thought. She continued to listen. "I need to know something. You say that the time will come, but, when it does come, will my daughter and I be able to trust your statement? About our protection?" There was a pause. Listal was rather confused. "Alright. I am happy to hear that you are upholding your part of the bargain. After all, I have done much for you. (Pause) Yes, I know. It's a bit fascinating that your boss is so willing to protect so many people, since his objective is aiming for quite the opposite. (Pause) I'm sorry if I doubted him. I'm sure that as long as we live, his plan shall succeed in destroying the universe. Speak to you soon, Adorios."

As soon as he placed down the phone, Listal burst into the room, screaming bloody murder. Surprised, Domoteras held up his arms and staggered back in fear.

"What are you doing? Stop! STOP!!!"

Listal, who was now a deep shade of Mahogany, ignored him and hit at him with full force

"How!? Could!? You!?! I trusted you! You said! That you would! Fight to protect! Everyone!!!" Listal screamed between punches. "HOW COULD YOU BETRAY US?!?!?" Her six eyes were crying intensely, but she didn't hold off on her flurry of punches.

Guards began to run into the room, and tried to pry her off of him. She screamed loudly. "Don't you DARE! He's gonna kill us all! He's gonna kill us ALL!!!" They tried harder to stop her. As they were about to pull the guns out, a loud voice stopped everything.

"I believe that is enough!!!"

Everyone turned around. A man wearing a green and black business suit had stepped into the room He donned a cascade of long black hair, and had a thin moustache with a small goatee. The guard who was trying to pull Listal off finally succeeded, and she slipped from his arms to the floor in a daze. The man looked toward Listal with pity in his eyes, and began to approach her. A guard stopped him as he got closer.

"Hang on. I can't grant you clearance unless you tell me who you are." The guard stated.

The man reached into breast pocket and held up a Galactic Federation badge of rather high degree. Astounded, the guard asked no more, and stepped aside. The man thanked him, and kneeled down next to Listal.

"Hey there. Are you alright?" He asked softly.

Listal looked up and nodded, but then shook her head. "My father is a traitor. He sold out information and assistants to Adorios the Metalloid Assassin, the spearhead of the universal crisis. He was aiding the monster in destroying everything!" Listal began to sob some more. She chuckled lightly. "I thought I ran out of tears when he betrayed us the first time. Guess I was wrong." She continued to cry.

The man gave her another pitying look, and stood up. He turned to one of the men, and pointed at Domoteras, who was covered in bruises and had already fainted.

"I would like you men to arrest this man for treachery, fraud, and terrorism. He is to be restricted from the right to have trial by jury."

"I'm sorry sir," one of the men said, "but are you going to trust what this girl says?"

The man held his hand out towards Listal. "Do you really think a poor, tortured soul like her would lie about something like this?

The guard looked at Listal, and shook his head. He pulled out a pair of handcuffs, and attached them to Domoteras's wrists. Two other men hoisted him up, and carried him away. One of the guards turned to the man.

"What are we to do about her?" he asked, pointing at Listal.

"Leave her to me. I have some business I have to attend to with her, concerning Adorios the Metalloid Assassin. Your job here is done." The man waved his hand in a dismissive manner, and the guard saluted, walking away afterwards. The man returned to Listal, and helped her to a nearby chair. Listal looked up at the man.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?"

"My name is not important right now, Miss Tirex. Right now, we need to catch a rendezvous with Chief-Admiral Gordon Nortel. He has some important information he has to share with all three of us."

"Three?"

"Please, follow me to my transport. We will discuss the details in a short bit."

Listal wiped her face of tears, and got up. The man strode rather briskly down the hall and stairs to the main foyer with Listal running after him.

"Do you know why Samus Aran and Adam Malkovich were imprisoned?" She called after him.

"We will discuss all of that as soon as we get inside the limousine."

The man opened the front door as soon as Listal reached him, and they both walked down the mansion's front stairs to a floating limo. A chauffer opened the door of the vehicle, and Listal stepped inside, with a familiar voice greeting her.

"Listal, is that you?"

"Oh my god, Xorexus!" She cried, grasping him tightly in a big hug. She then let go of him, with joy in her eyes. "Did he save you?"

"Yeah, and just in the nick of time, too. They pushed forward the execution date, and I was due for the vat nearly an hour ago. Thank goodness he got to me."

The man smiled. "I happen to be very good at being on time."

Listal turned to the man. "Who are you, anyway?" She asked.

"I will introduce myself later. We need to meet up with Chief-Admiral Gordon Nortel about many matters. The first matter is that we suspected Adorios has been manipulating important subjects of power in the Galactic Federation higher ops. It turns out we were right as that Domoteras has been selling information and our battle strategies to the enemy. Because of this, we believe Adorios had persuaded Chairman Keaton into the arrest and detainment of all four of you."

Xorexus and Listal nodded, but Xorexus was still a bit worried. "What about Harquar? You said 'the four of us' and that certainly doesn't include Harquar. Do you know what happened to him?"

"No. He disappeared from the hospital he was recovering in about three days ago. The last report of him found was that Domoteras sent him on a mission on the same day he disappeared. We have a feeling that Harquar has been sent to the enemy, and may have been killed."

* * *

Adorios was smiling. At least, in his mind. Since he had no face, it was extremely difficult to display his emotions to people. So, he had to leave them "context clues" in order for them to get the idea of how he felt. He turned to his guest.

"So then, as long as I convince my master to bring your precious Deliax back from the dead, you will help us with every effort that we need you for?"

The hulking mass that Adorios considered to be his guest nodded. "She meant everything in the world to me. I will do anything, ANYTHING, to get her back."

Nero smiled. "I believe we have a rather devoted friend right now, Adorios. I say he will be very helpful to us. What do you think, Dystereos?"

Dystereos looked toward Nero for a moment, and then looked away. "He's fine."

Nero frowned. "Oh, don't be such a sourpuss. You'll come to like him over time."

Adorios nodded, and held out his hand to the guest. "So then, Harquar, is your decision final?"

Harquar nodded back. "Yes, it is." He held Adorios's hand, and they shook on it.

Adorios smiled evilly. Samus now had no chance in beating them.

* * *

Ahem...

DUM DUM DUUUUUUUUM!!!!!!!!!!

yeah, i'm a dork.

anyways, it looks like everyone is betraying eachother now (hence the title). what will come of this is still unclear, but there seems to be a familar predicament happening from MP3...

Please review, and don't set toasters on fire.

Next time: Escape Now, Plan Later.


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Escape Now, Plan Later

This chapter is dedicated to Strafehunter of Metroid Headquarters

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: Escape Now, Plan Later.

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 9th of June

Location: Galactic Federation Federal Prison, Planet Diaban.

Samus was in line again for the disgusting gruel that she almost had yesterday. Luckily for her, Fredra Khane had sprayed her food everywhere when she threw her plate. Luckier was the fact that Fredra was being held in the detention center for causing trouble. Unlucky, however, was that now Samus was extremely hungry, and could settle for fried zoomer if she had to. She eagerly held her plate out, and the same robotic hand plopped gruel into her tray.

"Be careful Milady, it has lumps." Adam said.

"What about the earthy rocks?" She whispered to Adam

Adam shook his head and waved her off. Confused, Samus went to the same secluded table she went to yesterday, which now had a large fist-print embedded in it, and sat down. Se scooped up some gruel, and put it in her mouth. Surprisingly, it only smelled bad. Shrugging her shoulders, she took another bite, and almost broke her teeth on something. Gasping in pain, she spat out the gruel into her hand, half expecting a few teeth to come with it. She thought Adam was just being over-cautious when he said lumps! Looking through the slime, she noticed something shining in the gruel. Surprised, she wiped off the lump and saw that it was one of the earth stones. Adam managed to slip her the stones in her food! Now very surprised, she searched the rest of the meal excitedly, and was able to uncover the other six stones. Looking around, she realized she needed someplace to hide them. She looked at her clothes. She didn't have pockets. She kept on searching her body for a hiding place, and then noticed that her shirt felt really tight. Looking in her shirt, she realized where she could hide them. She rolled her eyes. Of course she had to hide them there. Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, she slipped the stones in one at a time into the one area in between the things only women have. She shivered. She hadn't completely wiped the stones off, and it was rather slimy in that area now. She got up, and asked the guard to let her out of the cafeteria. He nodded, and opened the door. Samus again lifted her arm for scanning, but carefully this time, as to not jostle the stones, and sat down with her arms handcuffed. When her stop came by, though, she realized a problem. The guard was going to have to scan her with an X-ray unit. She held her breath as her stop came by, but then noticed that her cell block was being guarded by a different guard than last time. She concluded that she could have a slim chance of pulling this off.

She stepped off of the tram platform, and walked up to the guard. As he pulled out the X-ray, she could only hope that her plan would work. He stopped as he came across her chest.

"May I ask why you have a long line of solid material in your chest area?"

Samus silently swallowed. She didn't want to cause a scene, so…

"That happens to be a piece of shrapnel that got caught in my chest after an explosion several years ago. Doctors couldn't remove it from me, since it would have killed me it they did."

The guard raised his eyebrow. "Allow me to check. I don't want an issue later on."

Samus took in a deep breath. She was going to have to cause a scene. "No way! I'm not gonna let you look at my *****!" she yelled. This surprised the guard and he stepped back a bit.

"Th-that's not what I need to do. I only need to…"

Another guard who had overheard the matter walked over to them. "Roger, what the hell are you doing? What kind of perv are you, anyway?"

"I'm not a-she says that she's got shrapnel in her chest, and I don't believe her!" he said defensively.

The other guard shook his head. "Dude, do you know who this is? This is SAMUS ARAN. She's been in so many battles, I would believe her if she said that she had a GUN stuck in her chest." He nodded to Samus. "You can go to your cell."

He led her to her cell, and shut the door behind her. Immediately as her cuffs deactivated, she pulled off her shirt and rinsed off her chest in the sink. She had been in many gross predicaments, but this was one of the grossest. Using the sleeves of her shirt to rinse herself off, she put her shirt back on and grabbed the earth stones out of the sink. Looking at them, she tried to remember how she activated them last time. Last time, Adorios had actually activated them, so she was rather clueless. She sat on the mattress, and closed her eyes. She thought of power. She thought of the earth. She thought of the soul that resided inside everyone.

A loud crack startled her. A piece of the wall had fallen out of its position and had smacked against the floor. Samus smiled, and thought more of souls. Souls, or to be more precise, spirit, was what made people strong. Muscles and strength didn't make one strong. A strong spirit did. The stronger the spirit, the stronger the person. And the stronger the person, the more he or she was like the earth, the source of all spirit.

A REALLY loud crack startled her. Underneath her feet, the cement floor had shattered into a spider web of large cracks. She looked at the stones, and noticed that they were glowing with unstoppable force. They were shining with her spirit.

She got up, and placed her hand on the door. Immediately, the wall around the door gave way to her hand, and flew across the hall. The guards yelled in surprise and began to shoot at her. A wall of cement rose up and stopped the blasts from harming her. Then, the wall moved forward, and smashed the men against the wall. Moaning, they fell to the floor. Samus grinned. She jumped into a spare tram car and rode it to the cafeteria. Luckily, no-one was there, so she hopped the cafeteria counter and walked toward Adam, avoiding the other sleeping robot servers. She unplugged the cord from his neck, and tore off the energy-draining cuffs that were keeping him docile. He woke up, and noticed Samus right next to him.

"Samus! I guess that you are planning on escaping tonight?"

"Well, duh. And next time, try not to destroy my teeth." She retorted, looking around for anyone.

"I did warn you, Milady-" but he was interrupted as she pulled him by the wrist to the back room of the cafeteria. She looked around warily, and began to sneak down the hallways.

* * *

Listal and Xorexus were with the mystery man inside the limo again, after coming back from Chairman Keaton's Office. They were right about Keaton having made a deal with Adorios. After telling him the truth about what was happening, he was very ashamed and told them to free Samus and Adam. Listal looked at the man in the green and black suit.

"Just who are you, anyways? You seem to have an uncanny connection with General, I mean Chief-Admiral Nortel, and you seem to be very interested in our mission. Who are you? You said you would tell us later. It is later."

The man smiled. "Later-Later, is what I meant. I will reveal my identity as soon as the team is reassembled."

Listal looked at Xorexus. "This guy's weird." She whispered.

"I heard that." The man said with a smile.

Listal looked back grumpily. "I'm sorry, but I just don't want to have to refer to you as the Green and Black Suit Man."

The man smiled again. "Green and Black Suit Man is fine by me."

Listal rolled her eyes, and looked out the window. She had noticed that the cityscape was becoming scarcer, and that it was being replaced by frozen tundra. They were getting closer to the Federal Prison. Soon, the limo came to a halt, and they stepped outside. Immediately, both Listal and Xorexus shivered. Green and Black Suit Man noticed this, and handed them coats. They thankfully put them on. Walking into the building, the first thing Xorexus thought of was a hospital. It even had that hospital smell. They walked up to a receptionist woman, who was busy reading some files, and got her attention. Smiling, she looked up at them.

"Yes, can I help you?"

"Yes, you can. We are looking for two inmates named 'Samus Aran' and 'Adam Malkovich', who were imprisoned two days ago. Can you retrieve them for us?"

"I can try. Hang on, do you have permission files?"

He handed her a thin rod-like item. Taking it, she pressed a button, and a holographic release form appeared. Nodding, she looked at the database, and suddenly frowned.

"What's the matter?" the man asked.

The receptionist swallowed. "Um, according to this, neither of them is in their holding areas." She said fearfully.

"Oh dear." The man said.

Immediately, alarms rang, and guards ran hurriedly down the halls. As all of this was happening, a sudden explosion was heard to their left. Samus and Adam ran through a cloud of dust, and suddenly stopped.

"XOREXUS!? LISTAL?! What are you doing here?!?" Samus yelled.

Listal shook her head. "You couldn't wait for us, could you?"

The man in green and black held up a badge to the receptionist. "Turn off the alarm. We are here on government request."

The woman pressed a button, and the noise stopped. The man looked at Samus and Adam. "We need to go to the Capitol Building right away. We have important issues to discuss."

As Samus and Adam trailed them in confusion, Adam leaned over to Samus and whispered in her ear: "I told you they would come for us."

Samus elbowed him.

* * *

"So, may I ask who the heck you are?" Samus asked in a slightly polite way.

They were in the limousine, watching as the tundra outside slowly returned to the cityscape it that surrounded it. Samus shivered. The chilly outside temperatures really got to her since she was abnormally sensitive to the cold as of late.

The man in the green and black suit looked at Samus, since he was pretty sure that Samus was asking him that question. He replied kindly.

"My name is not important right now. We shall discuss less important matters after we have spoken to Chief-Admiral Gordon Nortel and Chairman Keaton."

Listal objected loudly. "That's not fair! You said you would tell us who you were after we all got together again!"

Samus looked at Listal. "He was giving you the same problem, I assume?"

Listal nodded glumly. Samus shook her head. The man cleared his throat.

"I did indeed say that I would introduce yourself after you got together again, but note how I said AFTER. After doesn't mean right after." The man smiled a bit.

"Oh, you are one nasty scoundrel." Listal said with a growl. The man ignored this and looked at his watch.

"I think we are going to be late. I'd better pick up the pace."

Suddenly, the outside scenery was a blur. Astounded, everyone looked out the windows in surprise, and watched as it all slowed down as they neared the Galactic Federation Capitol Building.

"How'd the hell you do that?" both Xorexus and Listal asked, awestruck.

"I happen to be very good at being on time." The man said with a wink.

Samus didn't care. She recently knocked a two ton steel door into another wall without even trying. There wasn't much that really struck Samus as odd. However, as she stepped out of the limo, she gazed in admiration at the hulking beauty that was the Capitol Building. It wasn't really "big" in any sense, it just happened to be BIG. Two curving towers encircled a central tower, which housed all of the inner workings of the Galactic Federation. Samus looked at the top of the tower, and remembered that she needed to get to the top. She swore silently.

* * *

As soon as they reached the top, Samus was bored beyond her mind, and she was silently swearing under her breath.

"C'mon, we live in the height of scientific discovery and people still don't use teleporters all the time? I mean, seriously! They could at least make the elevators move faster." She faced the man in green and black. "And why didn't you make everything go fast while we were in there? That would have been useful."

The man faced her. "Sorry, I cannot do it all the time."

Samus frowned disappointingly. She meets someone who can basically speed up stuff and he can't even do it all the time. She followed the man and her friends to the entrance to Chairman Keaton's office, and the doors swung open, with Nortel standing in the center of the room. He smiled in a friendly manner.

"Ah! So good to see all of you! I'm glad all of you are together again. Also, I'm glad you weren't late! I hate it when I have to wait a long time for people to show up. Please, sit down, all four of you."

He held his hand out to a large set of couches behind him. Samus and the others obeyed, and sat down in two of them; Listal with Xorexus, and Adam with Samus. Nortel smiled, as if he just told himself a joke, and then put a straight face on.

"I believe you all understand while you are here, correct?"

"Because you needed to save us?" Xorexus asked meekly.

Nortel rolled his eyes. "Well, yes, but I also need to brief you on your next mission."

All but Listal nodded in agreement. She stood up. "I aint gonna listen to anything you want to say until you introduce your green and black friend over here." She said pointedly at the man who was looking at some papers on one of the tables.

The man heard this and let out a dramatic sigh. "Fine. Tell them who I am." He said to Nortel.

Nortel also let out a sigh, but then gathered himself. "Very well. This is my good comrade and agent, Strafe. He used to be the best bounty hunter in the universe until you came along, Samus.

Samus frowned. "I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to-"

Strafe laughed. "Don't worry yourself. It was inevitable that someone better than me would come along in my old age."

"Older than you look, huh?" Listal queried.

"You don't know the half of it." He replied.

"Anyways," butted in Nortel, "he is going to be Harquar's replacement while we continue to search for the rest of the stones. Since we have received information that-"

"Wait, Harquar's replacement?" Samus and Adam asked confusedly.

Strafe frowned. "We recently found out that he was sent on an unauthorized mission to where Adorios's hideout is, and he hasn't been seen since. He was sent three days ago."

Samus stood up. "Who sent him?" she asked hurriedly.

"My father." Listal said with hatred in her voice.

Nortel sighed. "Yes, Domoteras Tirex sent Harquar on an unauthorized mission to somewhere above Planet Diaban, and we believe that since Domoteras was in cahoots with Adorios, he sent him to his death."

Samus covered her face. She sat down with a look of intense dread, and began to breathe deeply. Adam looked at Samus helplessly. He began to move his hands to her shoulders, but then brought them back. He looked into his lap helplessly. Nortel closed his eyes, and turned around. Facing the desk by the window, he spoke.

"I believe that it is your turn, Chairman Keaton."

Everyone looked up in surprise as Keaton stepped out of the chair he was hiding in for so long. He shamefully faced the team as mixed expressions crossed their faces. He sadly shook his head.

"I can tell that you are all very angry with me, or at least disappointed. I made a terrible, naïve mistake, and placed you all in terrible positions. I never meant any harm to come to you, and I was only trying to bring peace to this world."

Samus walked forward angrily. "By locking us up and nearly killing one of us?!"

Keaton lowered his head in shame. "Adorios told me that if I agreed to his terms, he would call a ceasefire and the war would end. I wanted so bad to end this entire crisis. It turns out I only made it worse."

"Did you even know about Adorios and his plans?"

"No I didn't."

Samus sat down. "Adorios must have wanted us out of his way, obviously. I don't see how he managed to do this alone, though…"

Nortel spoke up. "Actually, we have some important information to discuss about that. When Adorios came to this office, he had two companions."

"What???" Samus, Adam, Listal and Xorexus exclaimed.

Strafe turned to Nortel. "This is news to me. Why didn't you inform me?"

"I only found out about 20 minutes ago. There were two companions with him at the time. Keaton reports that there was one with a large sword, and another who seemed humanoid, but had a consistency similar to gelatin. According to Keaton, his name was Nero. Has anyone heard this name before?"

All but Listal shook their head. Nortel noticed this, and walked up to her. "Do you know who this is?" he asked her.

She stared into space for a bit, and then looked up. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention for a second. No, I haven't heard of him."

Nortel gave her a sideways glance, and then walked back to the front of the desk. He cleared his throat, and then picked up some papers that were on the desk. "Anyways, according to the information that you all retrieved back on the Space Pirate Homeworld, the next set of stones are on either Gorodan, which is in the Megiddo System, or Fravellius, which is supposedly in sector 777. As far as we know, Fravellius doesn't exist in modern space charts, but we will look into that. In the meantime, I believe that it would be wisest to head towards planet Gorodan. Intelligence reports say that there is a very large concentration of Space Pirate forces collected around there, so you may be in for a lot of trouble. Before you all leave, are there any objections?

All of them shook their heads. Nortel nodded, and handed Strafe a holograph tube. "Your briefing information is inside this report. I wish luck to you all."

As they departed from the room, Adam leaned over Samus's shoulder and whispered into her ear.

"He stole my line." He said grumpily.

* * *

Far, far away, on a planet at the edge of the universe, a tree spoke.

"…And she will fight a long past enemy that she barely recalls…and a moon shall cry its final lament…and she will hear of the betrayal that has set upon her life…"

More trees began to moan, and all joined in a sorrowful chorus that filled the void.

"Forgive us gods, for we have tainted your lands."

* * *

Man those trees are creepy. i wonder what they have seen this time...?

Lucky for you, there is no need to wait 4 months to find out! :)

Please review, and avoid lumpy gruel.

Next time: Lament of the Dying Moon


	16. Chapter 15: Lament of the Dying Moon

Two dedications this time: To Strafehunter and Sylux125 of Metroid Headquarters.

P.S. When you see a *o*, begin listening to the Chykka Adult Boss Theme from MP2. it makes it so much more awesome.

* * *

Chapter Fifteen: Lament of the Dying Moon.

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar: 9th of June.

Location: Planet Diaban: Capital Planet of the Galactic Federation.

Samus smiled. She was happy to be wearing her suit again, even though it hadn't been long since she last wore it. Even still, she felt safer when she had it on. Xorexus and Listal were the same way. As they adjusted some of the calibrations of their suits, it got Samus thinking about how Strafe's suit would look. Since he used to be the best bounty hunter in the universe before her, he must have had some powerful equipment. Strafe soon walked in wearing a white and red jumpsuit, with odd pods on both of his thighs. Samus was about to ask him about them when he looked at her.

"You're probably wondering what the pods are for, aren't you?" he asked.

Samus nodded meekly. "Yeah, sorry for being so nosy."

Strafe chuckled. "Don't worry about it. This is where I store all of my emergency equipment." He tapped the pod on his right thigh, and it popped open, revealing a UPS (Universal Positioning Scanner), a handgun, and a green and black bracelet Samus had seen him wearing earlier. Samus nodded her head in admiration, and Strafe closed the pod again.

"I'll put my suit on in a bit, but I need to get a few things."

He walked over to the computer that was in the room with them, and began to type on the keyboard. Soon, a small map was shown. Strafe was looking intently at the map, as if trying to find some sort of hidden item, something he may have missed. Samus walked up to him, and looked at the map. It showed the surface of Planet Diaban, and the space above it. Samus kept on looking at the map, and saw a little red dot somewhere over the planet's surface. She pointed at it, surprising Strafe a little.

"Why is that there?" she asked.

Strafe was silent for a moment. "According to our recon units, that is where Harquar was sent to recently. When we went over there, though, nothing was to be seen. I'm thinking we should try to check over there before we head off to Gorodan, to see what we can find."

"Will Nortel allow it?"

"Actually, he recommended it."

Samus nodded, and turned to Adam, who was reading the files that Nortel gave to them. She tapped his shoulder, and he looked up from his work.

"Yes, what is it, Milady?"

"Nothing, really, it's just, well, um…"

"Gronkat got your tongue?"

"Shush, I almost have it…"

She thought for a moment, and remembered what she was going to say. "Ah, yeah, forgot for a moment. Um, do we know what we are looking for on planet Gorodan? I mean, we only found the stones last time because we were in a museum. But this time, this is a planet made of lava. We have no clue about what we are looking for, or where we will find it."

Adam shook his head. Samus also shook her head, but this little head shaking ceremony was interrupted by Strafe.

"The Ice Stones, or also known as the Relics of Justice." He said, getting the attention of everyone in the room.

"Ice stones?" Samus asked.

"Relics of Justice?" Xorexus added.

"Yes," Strafe replied. "This set of three stones is made of two different categories. The first is the central Stone of Ice, which controls the element it is named for. The second one is the two Stones of Justice, which are balanced and equal, and can determine if one is truly good or evil."

Samus blinked in amazement. "How do you know about that? Did you know about the Earth Stones, too? What about the other set?"

Strafe shook his head. "While I did know the location of the Relics of Spirit, I don't know what the last set is, or its location. However, the next set is certainly on Gorodan, as well are thousands of Space Pirates."

Samus sat down in a huff. "Well then, let's get ready for our next mission."

* * *

Dystereos was meditating silently in the back room of his ship. Somehow, he had a feeling his patience and hard work would pay off soon. The hard and long steps toward his victory over Samus seemed to be leading him in the right direction. The only thing that was a problem, however, was Nero. He, also, wanted revenge on Samus, for reasons unknown. Being partners with him was an even more stressing matter. Sighing, he slowly opened his eyes, and saw that Adorios was standing in the doorway. Dystereos stood up, and looked at Adorios cautiously. Remembering what he had said earlier, he had no idea what Adorios was feeling at the moment. He stared at Adorios a bit longer, and spoke.

"What are you feeling right now?"

Adorios tilted his head. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it would ease me if I knew what my partner was feeling most of the time. Not knowing how you feel makes our relations rather…edgy."

Adorios tilted his head even further. "Are you saying that you don't trust me?"

"Do you trust me?" Dystereos asked.

"Yes…" Adorios said slowly.

"Then I trust you. At least, I try to. I'm just saying, I order for me to understand you, I will need more…entrance. I need more entrance to your feelings."

Adorios nodded, then chuckled. "It's funny, really. You want me to show my feelings more often, yet you're the one who hides in that cloak all the time."

Dystereos clutched the edge of his cloak. "I won't be needing it anymore soon."

Adorios walked towards the door, but turned at the doorframe. "If you want to know what I was feeling earlier, it was suspicion."

"I thought you said that you trusted me." Dystereos said.

"I do. I wasn't suspicious about you, though."

"Then what are you suspicious about?"

Adorios ignored this, and walked away. Annoyed, Dystereos sat down and began to meditate again, to ease the stress from his body. However, he knew something was wrong when his rear end became more and more moist. He spoke slowly.

"Nero, am I sitting on you?"

Nero, who was sitting next to him, looked down at his hand, and noticed that it was flattened underneath Dystereos. He quickly pulled his jelly-like hand out from underneath him and the moist sensation Dystereos felt quickly disappeared. Dystereos turned to Nero, who was unflattening his hand.

"Nero, I have a question." Dystereos said.

"What is it?" he asked, looking up from his slightly finished hand.

"About our…motives. As we know, both of us wish to kill Samus Aran. But what I want to know is about who will carry out the deed, since there are not two Samuses for us to share."

"Well, you are wrong about one thing. There used to be two Samuses, in fact, many Samuses. Of course, they were all destroyed…" Nero said thoughtfully.

"What?" Dystereos said in confusion.

"Nevermind." Nero shook his head. "Personally, while I relish the thought of being able to kill and devour Samus, I really do not mind at least knowing that the hunter has been terminated, and that there are some pieces of her still intact." Nero began to giggle uncontrollably.

Dystereos was a bit put off by this comment. "You want to eat Samus Aran?"

"Yes, indeed. Her DNA is composed of the finest ingredients, including Metroid and Chozo DNA. Being able to have that in my body would be very satisfying."

"I don't understand. You only want to kill Samus so that you could eat her?"

"No, I do have a history with Samus that makes me furious with anger. She has done far too much to me before, and just as I was going to outsmart her, I was weakened, and defeated. I need to assimilate her in order to never fail again."

"Okay…" Dystereos started, "Then how about this? The next time we meet Samus, I will try to defeat her. If I win, I will have gotten my revenge, you will have seen her dead and you will get what you want. If I lose, however, then you will be given a chance to kill her and…do whatever. However, if YOU lose, assuming I'm not dead, then I will be given another chance at the hunter, and so on and so forth. How does this sound?"

Nero's face broke into a grin. "Deal."

"By the way, I need to know one last thing before I ask you to leave for now." Dystereos said.

"What is it?" Nero asked cautiously.

"I know that you are a shape-shifter of sorts, but, of all humanoid creatures in the universe, why do you take the guise of an Isane?"

Nero's eyes widened for a moment, but they returned to normal quickly. "I happen to like the way the Isane look. Is there a problem with that?"

"No. I was simply wondering about it. The last time I visited their planet, it was in a terrible state, contrary to how it was before. Since you happen to look like one, I was wondering if you could have possibly been the one who was responsible."

"I visited Planet Isane a long time ago. I never knew about anything afterward."

"All right then. I'm sorry for prying in your business. Now, I'm going to ask you to leave, so that I can meditate. Shoo." Dystereos lifted his hands in a shooing manner, and Nero stepped out of the room. As Nero left, however, Dystereos could tell that he had bothered Nero somehow, since he was having a hard time holding his shape.

* * *

Samus was having a hard time keeping herself together as well. She was dozing off slowly, propping her head up with her arm. She fell forwards as she left consciousness, but quickly caught herself and managed to wake herself up. She looked at the radar screen her elbow was sitting upon. Nothing had apeared on it for the last hour, and she was losing hope in the mission. She sighed, and turned around. Listal was looking out the window of the ship they borrowed. She was using a high-tech vision scope that could see in many different light spectrums, searching for any close ships. Xorexus was shooting out a sonic frequency that could supposedly disable cloaking devices from an antenna on top of the ship. Adam was reading the instructions Domoteras gave Harquar for his mission. They didn't yield many clues, other than the fact that the coordinates for his mission were here, above Diaban. Samus sighed, and got up from her seat, wavering slightly. She went to the cockpit of the ship, where Strafe was currently. Samus had forgotten what his suit had looked like for a moment. It looked similar to hers in the helmet and body, but both shoulders donned two thick spikes that jutted outwards, and he had a green blade extending from his left wrist. His suit had a green visor, and a similarly colored symbol on his chest that resembled a crosshair. His suit was covered in glowing green highlights like hers, but it was completely black. Samus stood there for a moment. Strafe was looking out the window in some sort of trance. Samus walked up to him quietly.

"What do you need, Samus?" Strafe asked.

Samus stopped, surprised. She coughed momentarily.

"I haven't gotten anything on the radar yet. Do you know how long we are to stay here?"

"About two more hours until our more dire mission is to be carried out. Don't worry, Samus, we will find out where he is."

Samus sighed again, and returned to the radar. However, as soon as she sat down in the chair, a faint blip was heard from the device. She shot up immediately, and looked at the screen. A small triangle had appeared on the screen, and it was moving closer to the ship. Samus ran to Strafe as quickly as she could.

She burst in yelling. "Strafe! We got a ship in the radar's sight!"

"Where is it?" Strafe asked.

"It should be right in front of us…"

Samus looked through the front window. Nothing could be seen. She tilted her head in confusion, and turned around for a moment, but she was surprised by a shout from Strafe. She turned around, and saw a blue and black ship enter their vision suddenly. She realized that the sonic frequency they were emitting had knocked off the other ship's shields. The ship began to shoot at their ship rapidly as it zoomed overhead. Strafe quickly initiated pursuit, knocking everyone over in surprise, and chased the escaping ship with theirs. The other ship ceased its fire upon them, and began to move towards one of Diaban's moons. Curious, Strafe continued to chase after it, and watched as it began to land on the surface of the moon. Strafe followed suit, landing not too far off from the other ship.

As soon as they landed, Samus quickly opened the doors of the ship and ran out, only to quickly realize that something was wrong with gravity. She flew upward slowly, floundering, and gradually came back to the surface of the moon. Taking smaller steps now, she cautiously neared the mystery ship. However, as soon as she was about fifteen feet away from the ship, the doors opened suddenly. As a ramp extended outward from the doorway, three figures were visible in the darkness. The first one stepped out, and revealed himself to be Adorios. Samus and the others raised their weapons quickly. Adorios chuckled, and moved out of the way for the second one. This person had no features, since he was covered in a cloak. He then stepped aside for the third person. Samus soon recognised him as an Isane, yet, something was off about him. His body had a shape, but it seemed unnaturally gelatinous. Samus took this one to be the one called Nero. Listal backed up warily at the sight of Nero, but the others held their ground. Samus growled angrily.

"Where. Is. Harquar?" She said between heavy breaths.

Adorios chuckled. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"YOU BETTER TELL ME WHERE HE IS OR I'M GONNA-"

"Going to do what? Shoot a hole in me?"

Strafe shook his head. "Samus! You can't allow him to just SIT there! You gotta take action!" He began to run forward to Adorios, blade raised high.

"Wait, Strafe!" Adam yelled.

Strafe ignored him and jumped into the air. He came down soon after upon Adorios with his blade, slicing him in half. Strafe jumped back to his position, but was surprised by Adorios putting himself back together. Adorios groaned.

"What a bother. When will they ever learn?" Adorios asked no-one in particular.

Strafe grinned in an annoyed way. "Why didn't Nortel mention this..?"

Samus kept focusing on Adorios. "Where is Harquar!?" she yelled.

Adorios laughed. "Why, you silly girl, Harquar now works for ME."

Samus's eyes narrowed angrily. "You liar!!! He would never do such a terrible thing!!!" Her eyes began to sting with tears.

"Oh, Samus, you actually managed to hurt me. You know I'm not a liar."

Samus silenced. Her eyes were flooded with tears. She looked up at Adorios angrily.

"Then prove it! Show me the traitor!" she screamed

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" He mocked.

The figure in the cloak spoke. "I've had quite enough of this drama, Adorios. May I finish this?"

"Certainly, go ahead."

The man stepped forward, and tore off his cloak. His true form was revealed: a man in a blue and black armorsuit with a yellow visor. He carried a long yet somewhat thin sword, but carried no other weapon. Three spike-like protrusions extended from his back to his right, each colored blue. He had three fingers, proving his difference in species, and had thing joins on his legs and arms. Samus suddenly realized she had met him before.

"You look familiar." She said cautiously, calming down.

"I better. I consider you my sworn enemy." He replied.

"You look familiar, but your name escapes me."

"My name is Dystereos. Do not forget it, since it is the name of the one who will kill you!" He drew his sword from its sheath.

"Samus, we'll back you up!" Xorexus yelled from behind her.

"No!" She yelled. "This is my fight. He want some sort of revenge on me, so I will fight him. None of you are part of this!"

The others looked at each other, and backed up slowly, returning to the ship cautiously. Strafe activated the thrusters of the ship once inside, and they lifted into the sky and stayed there. Dystereos chuckled.

"It was a good idea for them to take off. They would have gotten hurt otherwise."

*o*

He lifted his sword into the air above his head, and began to mutter a chant of sorts.

"By the forbidden powers of the universe, I will slay my foes. Lisec, Ecdi, Veres, Vahle!!!"

Concentric rings of light had appeared around the hilt of his sword, and suddenly flashed, lighting up the blade. He swung the blade down, and a huge beam blasted out of the tip, creating a large half-circle of energy headed toward Samus. She dodged quickly, and laughed.

"Is that all you…" She began, but was interrupted by a loud grinding. She looked down, and saw that the ground where the beam had crossed now had a line running through it. She looked closer, and saw that the other side of the line was raising slightly. Samus gapsed, and noticed what had happened. Dystereos laughed, and spoke more chants.

"Thifs nad vome!" He yelled, and stomped on the ground. The entire half of the moon began to shift aside the other, splitting into even pieces. Samus wobbled under the sudden movement, but caught herself as Dystereos ran forth and swung his sword. She shot a few power beam shots at him, only to see them blocked swiftly by his blade. Samus decided to mimic him, and pulled out her own machete blade, slicing at him. He jumped back, and muttered his first chant, causing his sword to glow. He sliced down again, and cut off another piece of the moon. It began to drift away from the main mass, so Samus jumped onto it to get away. Of course, Dystereos followed as well, and continued to slice at Samus, cutting off more pieces. Samus jumped from piece to piece, shooting back every now and then, and stood on one piece as she unleashed a flurry of shots and missiles. Dystereos jumped from rock to rock nimbly, avoiding each attack. Samus then leaped off of her rock, and brought her blade down quickly on Dystereos. However, he lifted his sword, and blocked, resulting in a resounding clang. Both sat in space for a moment.

"How come my sword did not rend yours useless?" Dystereos asked.

"Because I rule." Samus said, and shot a missile into his gut, sending him flying into a floating rock wall. He fell unconscious, and floated there. Samus neared him with the boosters in her built-in jetpack, and pointed her arm cannon at him.

"Sorry, Dystereos, but this is where it ends."

She tensed on her weapon trigger, but was surprised by a materializing Adorios, who grabbed Dystereos and flew away. Samus cursed angrily, and closed her eyes. She then looked around at the scene around her. Smaller pieces of the moon were falling down onto Diaban, causing havoc below, while larger pieces drifted into space. She floated there for a moment, and watched as her team brought in the ship to pick her up. She grabbed a handle near the door and opened it, taking one last look at the damage she left behind. She closed her eyes, and joined her team.

* * *

Mysteries about Nero, Samus finds out about the betrayal, and an Epic battle!

man this chapter was awesome!

it will now be a while before the next chapter, but definitely not 4 months :)

Please review, and avoid carnivorous blobs of goo.

Next time: Family Time.


	17. Chapter Sixteen: Family Time

Hey all! just want to let you all know i have made another fic you should check out! it's called Metroid: Delta Chronicles. please check it out soon!

on with the story!

* * *

Chapter Sixteen: Family Time.

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar, 10th of June.

Location: Outer Rim of the Megiddo System.

Dystereos woke up. He was lying on a table in his ship, with all of the lights out. He got up from the table, only to feel the most painful aching around his stomach. He fell to the floor, and looked around. There was no sight of Nero, Adorios, or Harquar. He wasn't sure what happened, but he had a feeling something embarrassing happened. He sat there for a moment. Looking down at his stomach, he saw that there was a large explosion mark on his chest. As he continued to look at it, he remembered what happened. He had lost to Samus. He groaned in pain and anger, and tried to stand up. Queasy, he made his way to the sink, took off his helmet, and threw up. After having a missile shot at his chest, his stomach was not feeling the best it could. After he hurled a few more times, he was certain his stomach was empty, put his helmet back on, and made his way to the door dizzily. Opening it, he covered his eyes when light flooded his vision. When his eyes were accustomed to the light, he saw Adorios sitting by the dashboard of the ship, and Nero in another chair, looking at apparently nothing again. Dystereos walked up to a chair, and sunk into it, groaning. Adorios turned around at his voice.

"While I don't know all that much about sleeping, I'm sure you need more of it." Adorios said.

"Shut up." Dystereos retorted.

"Do you know who saved your life out there?"

"No, and I personally don't care. You should have let me die."

"You are far too important to let die, my friend."

Dystereos looked at Adorios, and shook his head. Closing his eyes, he sat silently for a bit, waiting for the extreme pain in his gut to fade away. He opened his eyes and looked at Nero, who was still staring at the floor. He spoke to Nero with somewhat difficulty.

"I guess I lost my side of the bet, Nero. The next time we meet her, it's your turn."

Nero looked up at Dystereos. "Maybe I will try to kill her, maybe I won't. Personally, I think we should give our chilly friend a chance at her." Nero tilted his head towards one of the doors.

Dystereos shrugged. "If you want to give up your chance of killing her, that's fine by me. By the way, Adorios, how is Harquar holding up?"

Adorios turned around to face him. "He seems to be doing fine. I do not know if he had any knowledge of the battle that took place earlier, but so far, he has been staying loyal to us."

Dystereos nodded. "How come he won't speak with us?"

"I'm not sure. It's possible he is still a bit…unsure of his choice." Adorios said.

"Why don't we invite him out?" Nero asked.

"Well…I suppose you can say that he doesn't want to."

"Hm…"

They all sat silently for a bit. Dystereos looked out the window. Stars flew past as they made their way to the next planet on their list: Gorodan.

* * *

Samus was sitting in one of the many chairs the ship they were in had to offer. She was rather confused as of how her machete blade had held up to Dystereos's sword with such ease. It didn't even have a single scratch. She removed her cannon from her arm and continued to examine it. She kept on doing this until Xorexus came from underneath her and surprised her immensely, causing her to drop the cannon on his head.

"Ow-w-w! Be careful, butterfingers! Sorry if I surprised you, but really now, that hurt!"

"Oh, I am so sorry Xorexus! Here, lemme get this…" She picked up the arm cannon and put it back on.

"Ow…ah, don't worry about it for now. I came in here to congratulate you on your battle!"

"Oh, thanks, Xorexus."

"Yeah, seriously, Samus, you were awesome out there!" Listal said as she walked into the room.

"Thanks. It wasn't all that much…'

"Are you kidding? You totally kicked butt! I mean, even though you were battling a dude who could slice planets in half, you still totally held your ground! Who was that guy anyway?"

"I'm not really sure…I mean, I know I met him before, but he just seems so…distant."

"Well, you must have really annoyed him before if he still has this grudge against you." Xorexus said while spinning on one of the chairs.

"I've annoyed plenty of people, trust me. Many of them still won't even stay dead."

"Speaking of…whatever happened to Ridley?" Listal asked.

Samus was surprised. She had totally forgotten about him. "I don't know, really…I mean, he was under some sort of mind control the last time I saw him. It's possible he was working for Adorios, since those towers on Distundia are his."

"But what happened to him? How come we haven't seen him lately?"

"Maybe Adorios killed him?" Xorexus suggested.

"That makes sense…but that makes me wonder about some stuff…I mean, what about his new team? Are they under his control too? Does Dystereos even know what he's doing? What about that other guy, Nero? What about Harquar?! Maybe, just maybe, he really didn't betray us, but he's under Adorios's control?!"

"But, how could he do it? I mean, does he have a controlling beam?" Listal asked.

"I don't know……………wait……Ridley said that the air in the room around him was a brainwashing mixture when I encountered him……and when we battled, Harquar was acting all dizzy. So, it's possible he got a whiff of the stuff!"

"But what about you? How come you aren't helping Adorios right now?" Xorexus asked.

"Um…wait, I know! I had a new air filtering unit added to my suit recently! He didn't have that, so he was put under the influence!"

"Ok then, we have a good theory of why all of this is happening. But what if Harquar chose to help him by himself?" Listal said.

"You don't know Harquar like me, Listal. I know he would never betray anyone. EVER."

Listal shrugged her shoulders, and left the room. Samus looked at Xorexus. "What's her problem?"

"Weren't you listening back at the mission briefing? He father was selling out information and supplies to Adorios. He was the one who sent out Harquar!"

"But why is she so mistrusting?"

"Um, hello?! Her father betrayed us! Like, her only family! I would be pretty mistrustful too if my family went all evil!"

"All right. All right! I wouldn't know too much about it, since my only family was killed!"

"Sheesh, ok, I get it. Let's stop yelling at each other. It's bad for your throat."

Xorexus got up and also left the room, leaving Samus by herself. Samus then decided to get up, and went to see Strafe. When she got in there, all of her perception went out of whack, and everything slowed down. Strafe turned his head to Samus, and said something too fast for her to hear. He pressed a few buttons on his suit, and everything went back to normal.

"Holy crap, what just happened?"

"I've done that before and you didn't freak out. What makes now so special?"

"The fact that I couldn't move! How do you do that?"

"You see this suit?" Strafe pointed at himself. "It allows me to slow and speed up objects around me. I was currently slowing time around me so that I could get a good nap."

"Where in the universe did you get it?"

"I was sent on a mission to explore a Chozodian ship, and I found it there, 300 years ago."

"You mean, it's 300 years old?"

"No, I mean I'm 300 years old."

"Holy Freaking Crap!" Samus exclaimed. "You're 300 years old? How?"

"325, to be precise. My suit reduces my aging cycle by 100 years. That's why I look only twentysomething years old."

"How come you don't age without the suit?"

"You remember that bracelet I had?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I saw the problem with the suit's inability to keep me alive beforehand, so I made the bracelet to hold my life cycle. It's not as good as the suit, but it can still keep me running."

"Hm. Considering that you said chozodian suit, it explains why it looks much like mine.

"I did find that interesting at first…" Strafe said in agreement.

"Anyway, back to the reason I came here. I've been wondering. If we are to land on Gorodan and search for the Ice Stones, then how are we going to do that if the entire planet cannot keep a solid crust?"

"That's a good question…I'll work on that. In the meantime, get some rest. You just fought an insane battle."

Samus nodded. She left the room, and headed for one of the ship's built-in bedrooms. She stripped down to her jumpsuit, and got into one of the beds. She had a harsh battle ahead of her, she was certain of it.

* * *

Dystereos woke up for the second time that day. His stomach felt better, but still ached something awful. He couldn't tell if that was because he was either hungry, or because it hadn't recovered yet. However, he was afraid to eat something, in case his stomach suddenly decided to explode. At the same time though, the cheesecake in the refrigerator was rather tempting…

Getting out of his bed, he opened the door of the fridge. Several emergency ration packets were inside, along with a jug of water, some blue fruit, a possibly rotten leg of meat, and no cheesecake. Dystereos frowned. He was pretty sure that he didn't eat it, and Adorios couldn't eat, and Harquar was acting despondent lately, so…

Dystereos slammed the door of the fridge, stormed out of his room and confronted Nero, who was staring at nothing again. Dystereos stood there for a moment, to see if Nero would notice if he was angry. With no such luck, he approached him.

"I would have shared it if you asked." Dystereos said.

"You mean the cheesecake?" Nero asked, looking up.

Dystereos was surprised. He actually didn't expect him to fess up so easily. "Well, yes, actually. As I said, I would have shared it. But now, I can't share it, since you had to go steal it."

"Well, I'm sorry about that. Sometimes, I can't control myself. I get hungry, and my body wants food. So it gets food."

"That's no excuse. You CAN indeed control yourself."

"Actually, I can't. My body will want food every now and then, so it gets food."

As he finished his sentence, Dystereos noticed that Nero was missing an arm. This wasn't all too surprising to Dystereos, since he had already seen dismembered limbs in Adorios's case, yet he didn't know that Nero was the same way. As he pondered this, he was suddenly startled by an arm that came out of his room carrying the rotten piece of meat. It walked on its fingers to Nero, reattached itself to his body, and then shoved the meat grotesquely into Nero's mouth. It was a disgusting sight, since the meat fell apart in moldy chunks as it was forced into Nero's now wider and misshapen mouth. As his extremely long tongue lapped up the last morsels from his lips, Dystereos watched as Nero returned to absolute normal.

"What are you?" Dystereos asked.

"Very hungry, I'll tell you." Nero replied with a small belch.

"Very funny. Seriously, what are you?"

Nero stared at Dystereos for a bit. "I will tell you later, once we leave Gorodan. I'm certain that we wil have plenty of time to discuss this later."

Dystereos gave Nero a sideways glance, and walked away. Nero simply fell asleep. As Dystereos walked into his room, however, he heard a strange thumping noise. Looking around, he opened his fridge to see if Nero was still eating. There were no surprising limbs or heads inside the box, and everything was the same minus the meat. Closing the fridge, he looked around a bit more, trying to pinpoint the sound. He went to the room he had given Adorios, and tried to open the door. It wouldn't budge. Confused, he knocked on the door repeatedly. Adorios's muffled voice came through.

"Yes, what is it?" Adorios asked.

"Um, nothing. Just wondering where you were."

"Well then, I would kindly ask you to leave me alone for the moment."

"Sure, of course." As Dystereos began to leave, however, he heard a second muffled voice come from Adorios's room; it was deeper and raspier. Just as he walked away suspicious of Adorios, he heard the thumping again. It was as if something heavy was rattling around. Dystereos looked around, and realized he hadn't checked on Harquar. He went to Harquar's room, and noticed the door was unlocked. He knocked on the door. No-one responded. Suspicious, he opened the door slowly, and was greeted by a surprising sight.

There was Harquar, held in place by energy bindings. He was muzzled with some strange metallic mouthpiece, and was moving around violently at the sight of Dystereos. Dystereos looked behind him. Nero was still asleep. He closed the door silently and approached Harquar, who bumped around more. Dystereos looked at him. He was obviously angry at him, and was trying hard to break free. He slowly stepped away from Harquar, and left the room, closing the door behind him. He looked back at Harquar's cell.

–What is going on here? Why did Adorios lock up Harquar if he swore loyalty to him? What exactly is Adorios's plan with him? This doesn't make sense…– Dystereos was disturbed. He looked around the room. Nero was still snoozing away, and Adorios hadn't left his room. Sighing a breath of relief, Dystereos silently made his way to his room, and closed the door. His stomach was hurting again, but it wasn't because of the missile impact. He had a gut feeling that something VERY wrong was afoot. He looked at one of his drawers. Opening it, the small silver orb Adorios had given him rolled to the front of the drawer. He picked it up, and looked at it. He had a feeling that he should get rid of it as soon as possible. He looked at his laser trash-disposal unit. He walked over to it, and held the orb above it. He wanted to let go of it. He wanted to destroy it. He wanted it to go away. He wanted to keep it forever. He wanted it by his side, keeping him safe.

Dystereos took a double take. Those last thoughts he had were not his. He quickly dropped the ball back into the drawer and closed it. Adorios was up to no good, as he was certain, but not just about destroying the universe. He was slowly corrupting him, and possibly Nero as well. He looked at the drawer cautiously, and got into his bed. Pressing the light switch above his head, he closed his eyes and hoped that whatever Adorios was up to, it wouldn't attack him while he slept.

* * *

A Tree Spoke:

"And the Huntress shall battle one who she dearly wishes to protect, but will be given no choce in the end…"

The trees moaned together in unision.

"Forgive us gods, for we have caused you sorrow…"

* * *

Please review! it's not exciting, but interesing all the same...

NEXT TIME: Control, Alter, Delete. this chapter will amaze you!


	18. Chapter 17: Control, Alter, Delete

This chapter will amaze you. personally, I think this is my best one yet. please enjoy.

Note: at the *o*, please begin listening to the rundas battle theme. it is awesomer that way.

* * *

Chapter Seventeen: Control, Alter, Delete.

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar, 10th of June.

Location: Meddigo System Lava Belt.

Samus was staring at the intense beauty that was the Meddigo System Lava Belt. Most solar systems had asteroid belts. This one had a lava belt. Several of the stars nearby were passing it and melting it where it did. The places where the stars weren't at was composed of smooth obsidian, which would crack apart as it revolved around the central supergiant that held everything in orbit. The entire scene gave Samus the impression of a giant cosmic lava-lamp. As Samus tried to pull herself away from the scene with much difficulty, she saw something very strange. A large metal ring was moving towards one of the lava planets. As it got closer, it shot a blue ray at the planet, and the lava on the planet began to shift and mold as it was slowly brought upwards in the beam's path. Samus suddenly noticed that the ship was silver with black markings on it, and that there were several Space Pirate vessels surrounding it. Samus also noticed that there was a filtering ray on the inside of the ring, and it was priming to filter the lava. Samus moaned with dread. She ran to the others, who were also looking at this intense contraption.

"I should have known." Strafe said. "Adorios understood that if the Ice Stones were indeed on Gorodan, then they would have sunk far into the surface of the planet by now. He's going to try to sift the stones out of the lava, destroying the planet in the process." Strafe turned to Xorexus. "How's our shields doing in this heat, Xorexus?"

Xorexus tried to respond to him. He was having some trouble understanding what was going on the screen, due to his lack of computer knowledge. "Um…fine?"

"Oh, let me." Listal said impatiently. She walked over to him, moving him out of the way, and began to survey the screen. "Our shields are at 84% maximum capacity, and keeping steady, wavering between 81 and 89."

"Good. Bring us in towards the Space Pirate ship, and activate the stealth beacons." Strafe said.

Listal obeyed, and began to punch in some buttons on the dashboard. The ship began to hum, and soon, they were completely invisible. Steering the ship towards the giant ring, they closed in slowly. A few docking ports were visible on the sides of the ring. However, as they got closer, they heard a strage buzzing noise. As they looked around for what may have been causing it, they suddenly were shook by a large explosion nearby them. They suddenly noticed that the Space Pirate ships were shooting at them!

"What's going on? I thought we put on our stealth shields!" Adam yelled.

Xorexus thought for a moment. "The buzzing noise! It must have been a stealth disruptor!"

"Then that means they were expecting us! Come on, we gotta get to the ship! I bet they'll stop shooting as soon as we get too close to it!" Samus yelled.

Listal nodded, and began to speed towards the enormous ring. More ships began to shoot at their ship with piercing lasers. Listal screamed as one of them shook the ship with extreme force. "Ship's shields at 50%, wavering between 20 and 55!" she yelled. "We might not make it!"

"Yes we will! Hold on, I'll take care of this!" Strafe yelled. He began to frantically tap hidden buttons on the surface of his arm cannon, and then began to charge up a whitish beam.

"Hold on tight guys, this is going to be rough!" Strafe raised his arm cannon above his head, and released the charging beam. A huge wave of white light emanated from the cannon, shaking everything with extreme force. Then, the blasting stopped. Listal opened her eyes, and looked out the front window.

"The lasers! They stopped!"

Stopped was the correct word. They had simply stopped moving in mid-shot, sitting there. Strafe yelled. "Get moving! I cant keep this up forever, so bring us in toward the docking bay!"

Listal nodded again, and sped towards one of the many docking bays on the ship. As they landed, the effects of Strafe's beam wore off, leaving them vulnerable to attack. However, Samus's prediction was right, and they didn't risk attacking the ship. As they left the ship quickly yet cautiously, they grouped together quickly for a plan.

"Ok," Samus began, "Xorexus and Strafe will try to see if Adorios is here, and will try to get Harquar out of his grasp. Adam and Listal, you guys are gonna take down the power core. I need two techies for this job, so try to get along. I'm going to see if I can get the Ice Stones if they pass through the sifter, and will let you guys know if I do. Alright, let's do this!" Samus yelled confidently.

"Wait, Samus!" Xorexus yelled. "Why are we to go after Adorios? Won't we get killed or something?"

"Don't worry! You'll be safe with Strafe! Trust me!" Samus yelled, and ran off towards the center of the ship. Xorexus shrugged, and ran off with Strafe towards the other docking bays. Listal and Adam looked at eachother, and without a word, headed towards the ship engines.

* * *

Strafe and Xorexus were currently running along the edge of the ship. So far, there weren't any ships to be seen, which was good in some sense, but was also bad, as they couldn't find Adorios. Xorexus spoke between breaths.

"So…huff…what are we gonna do…huff…when we…huff…find Adorios?"

"We're going to try to distract him, and try to free Harquar. Didn't you hear what Samus said?"

"Oh, yeah, forgot."

They continued to run along the edge when suddenly, around a corner, they saw the blue and black ship they had seen Adorios in before. As they approached the ship, a voice startled them.

"You know, your eariler plan didn't really impress me. Distract me? I can be in two places at once!"

They spun around, and they watched as Adorios materialized from thin air in front of them. Strafe raised his cannon, while Xorexus quickly pulled out a small metal square from his pack. Adorios laughed.

"Please, the only way I could posibly die to you is if I died of laughter. Take this!"

Adorios quickly shot his hand forward and slapped the metal disk out of Xorexus's hand, making it to fly into a wall and explode with massive force. As Strafe and Xorexus covered their eyes in reaction to the flash, Adorios changed his hands into two large paddles, and he whacked both of them into opposite directions, causing them to skid along the metal floor. Adorios laughed more, and traced a line down his chest with his finger. Along the line he drew, a seam began to appear, which seperated and left Adorios in two halves. Both halves departed, and flew toward both Strafe and Xorexus. Xorexus got up feebly onto his feet, only to be knocked down again by a speeding Adorios. He got up again, and quickly dodged Adorios, who had turned his arm into a large blade. As he dodged more and more slices from him, Adorios got annoyed. He then turned his entire form into several slashing blades, becoming a whirlwind of spinning metal. Xorexus ran as fast as he could from this deadly vortex as it continued to chase him. He quickly began to rummage through his pack, looking back every now and then to see if he was about to die or not. He then pulled a pink ball out of his pack, and threw it at the spinning vortex. It promptly exploded, and caught Adorios's blades in a gooey, sticky mess. As they tried feebly to pull away from the goop, Xorexus ran into Dystereos's ship for safety and the mission. As he did this, Adorios's blades glowed purple and disintegrated the goo with his powerful weapon: the Decomposition Beam. He reformed himself into the half he was, but realized that Xorexus had disappeared. Deciding to give up on Xorexus, Adorios's half joined the other one, who was trying to get Strafe.

Strafe was currently trying very hard not to be hit by Adorios's Composition Beam blasts. Even when Adorios hadn't gotten anything recently with his Decomp Beam, he could still shoot large chunks of white matter that could encase anything it hit. As Strafe quickly dodged another white beam, he suddenly noticed that the other half was coming to rejoin itself. This worried Strafe, since that could have meant that Xorexus lost. Adorios took advantage of this distraction and shot a blob of goo that he had recently absorbed at Strafe. Strafe was too late to avoid it, and was caught on the foot by the goo, getting stuck in place. Strafe pulled as hard he could, but nothing happened as he stuck there. Adorios reassembled himself then, and pulled off his arm, changing it into a sword. It began to glow purple with Decomp energy, and he raised it above his head. Strafe, with no time to lose, shot a blast of energy at the goo, causing it to sizzle and pop, and finally pulled away as Adorios brought his blade down, barely missing Strafe's foot as is sliced through the silvery floor. Adorios quickly looked at Strafe, who was currently running at him with extreme force. His wrist-blade glowed green, and he broght it across Adorios's face, slicing his head in half horizontally. The head fell to the floor, and as Adorios tried to retrieve it, Strafe tapped the same hidden buttons he did before, and charged up the beam he used in the ship. As Adorios finally got his head together, Strafe released the beam, and time slowed down. Strafe ran at Adorios with extreme speed, and sliced through his neck. He landed on the floor, and ran back, slicing through his waist. He kept on doing ths until he had sliced through his arms, legs, chest, and face. Soon, the effects of the beam wore off, and time returned to normal. Strafe turned around, and smiled. Adorios fell apart into many pieces, and each one sat on the floor, leaving him in a discombobulated mess.

'Wh-wh-what did you do to me???" Adorios yelled, trying in vain to put himself back together.

Strafe chuckled. "My suit uses tachyon energy to operate. Tachyon energy is known to diffuse the antimatter recollision effect, which is what your suit operates on, correct? All I needed to do was amplify the antinode my suit uses, and voila! Completely immobilized."

"Why, you…I'll get you for this!!! You better hear me, because I will get you!!!" Adorios yelled angrily.

Strafe ignored him, and looked for signs of Xorexus. "Xorexus! You better not be dead, since Samus knew I'd protect you!"

"I'm not dead!" Xorexus yelled as he left Dystereos's ship. "I was looking for Harquar. He wasn't inside the ship, which means he's somewhere in this complex. If Adorios sent him after Samus, then we may have a problem." Xorexus looked behind Strafe's shoulder. "Did you beat him???"

"No, he's gonna recover in a while. We better get out of here before he does, or things will get nasty."

Xorexus nodded, and they both ran away to where they saw Samus headed. Adorios shouted after them.

"And I'll slice you in half! And then I'll Decomp you and then shoot your remains at Samus's face! And then I'll wipe your remains up with my foot! And then…and then…oh, screw it."

* * *

Samus was running as fast as she could through the hallways of the complex. Luckily for her, it was easier to reach the center of the ring by simply running straight through it, since its radius was rather short compared to its circumference. She had been lucky enough to have not encountered any Space Pirates yet, although she had a feeling that more would be near the center. Her suspicions were proven correct when she turned a corner and came across several pirates in a control room. They turned at her appearance, and began to shoot proton blasts out of their weapons at her. She easily dodged them, and shot several plasma shots at them. One pierced a pirate through his stomach, and went through into another's head. Another had dodged quite a few when he was unexpectedly shot in the leg, allowing Samus to finish him off. The last one left was obviously an expert fighter; he had avoided all of her shots so far. Annoyed, Samus switched to her machete and slashed down at him. He quickly brought up his wrist blade to block, which resulted in an explosion of sparks. Samus jumped back, and charged up her ice beam with the machete still on. As he shot some proton shots at her with astounding skill, she leapt forward and above him, and tapped his back with the icy blade. He froze instantly, allowing Samus to shatter him with a missile. Looking back at the carnage, she noticed that one of the screens showed a detailed map of the complex. Scanning it with her Scan Visor, she downloaded it to her databases. According to the map, she was only about five rooms away from the center of the ring. She quickly left the room and ran through more hallways. She found it extremely odd that there were barely any Space Pirates aboard the ship. Of course, however, she had wiped out about a million of them with her team back on Distundia. As she ran into the fifth room, she was greeted by a large heat-shield blocking access to the central sifting device. Looking around for its power source, she came across no such luck, as it looked like there was no way past it. She decided to apply force. Charging her machete with her wave beam, she jabbed her machete into the shield. Electricity surged over her as the shield crackled and sputtered as she forced deeper into the shield. As soon as she was about to let go, the shield gave way and shut down, turned off from short-circuiting. She walked through the sifter access tunnel, and was greeted by a change in scenery as she saw the lava of Gorodan being sifted through a large shield-like beam used for finding rare metals. As she looked at the strange sight, she saw the rest of Gorodan being shot out the other side of the ring in large globs. She looked around at her surroundings. A bridge led up to the stream of lava, so that one could try to retrieve anything that they were trying to get out of the lava. It was protected by a gravity field, so that one wouldn't be pulled out of the ring and into the planet. However, it was not a force field, since one could easily stick their entire body through it. Samus walked across the bridge carefully toward the retrieving station, and looked inside. There was no sign of a precious gem in sight. Sighing, she stood there momentarily, deciding to wait as long as she could for the stones to come. As she stood there, however, a blue object got into her vision, clashing with the red surroundings. She quickly faced it, and held back a gasp.

"Hello, Samus." It said. It was Harquar. He slowly approached Samus on the bridge, as she took a battle position. Harquar did the same.

"Do you plan on killing me?" Harquar asked.

"I hope it doesn't have to come to that." Samus replied. "Why are you helping Adorios?"

"He promised me that if I helped him, he would bring back the one I loved!"

"What?" Samus yelled. Harquar had gone mental.

"He said he'd convince the lord of the dead to bring back Deliax for me!!!"

"Harquar! Stop it! You said that you had finally accepted Deliax's death! You said that you would work to better yourself!"

"Oh, really? What about you? How come you haven't accepted your parents' deaths?"

Samus silenced. Whether Harquar was under Adorios's influence or not, that was where she lost herself. She raised her arm cannon, and primed a super missile.

*o*

"Don't you EVER use my parent's lives against me!" she screamed, and shot the missile. Harquar grabbed the edge of the bridge railings, and jumped off, dodging the missile. Samus followed him over the edge.

Harquar shot a blast of ice at the lava, causing it to cool and create a platform. He landed on it, and shot more ice around him, creating a solid island of rock. Samus landed on the island, and quickly raised her arm cannon in Harquar's direction. Harquar grunted angrily. He raised his hands above his head, and thrust them forward, causing a row of icy shards to jut out of the rock. Samus quickly avoided it, and shot several super missiles at Harquar. He dodged a few of them, but one of them clipped his shoulder, sending him careening in another direction. He quickly caught himself as he got near the edge, and turned to Samus. He charged up some sort of energy inside of himself, and released it as a wave of icy air, freezing anything it touched. As it neared Samus, she thought quickly and launched a plasma missile at the wave. The missile exploded, and sprayed hot plasma all over Samus, which melted the wave as it crossed over her, vaporizing the plasma at the same time. Samus was about to run at Harquar again when she heard a cracking noise. Looking behind her, she saw that the sifting beam was getting closer to them by the minute, and that it was shattering the platform. She ran forward, past Harquar, and shot a diffusion missile at the lava as she jumped over it, creating a new solid platform. Harquar saw this, and did the same, not too far away from Samus. Samus looked at Harquar with fire burning in her eyes. She began to rapidly shoot blasts of plasma at Harquar, while he shot ice back at her. The beams collided in midair between them, creating multicolored fireworks in the firefight. Samus kept looking behind her, since the sifting beam was nearing again, and began to tap her thigh. A hidden compartment opened, revealing her power bomb supply. She grabbed a bomb, ran towards the edge of her platform, and threw her bomb at Harquar's platform. It exploded, and shattered his platform. Harquar jumped off quickly and landed on Samus's platform, priming his weapon. Samus was about to finish with a super missile to his face when an image popped into her mind. An image of a Phrgissian being impaled upon his own ice. A cloud of darkness absorbing him for power. But this time, the vision changed, and the darkness was replaced with Adorios. Samus lowered her cannon.

"Harquar, please, don't make it end like this. I don't want to kill you."

"I will fight for my beloved! Even if it means that I will be sent there to join her in the end!"

"Harquar! Stop it! This isn't you! I cannot let go of my parents' deaths because they were caused by another dangerous force! But in your case, it wasn't anyone else's fault, but yours! Own up to your mistakes, and you will finally have found peace!"

Harquar stood there momentarily. He was twitching, shuddering, and muttering something under his breath. As Samus tried to hear what he was saying, he began to convulse.

"No, stop! Get out of me! I won't…I won't do it! I cannot…I…I…RAHHHHH!!!!!"

Harquar screamed in anger and pain. He was trying not to throw himself into the lava, and was fighting some strange force. Soon, Samus could hear a voice.

"Do it. Kill her or you will die! I command you to follow my orders!"

"No…I...won't!!!" Harquar screamed to the heavens, and a silvery white liquid sprayed out of his mouth. It fell into the lava, and melted away. Harquar stood there for a moment, and fell forward. Samus gasped, and caught him by the waist as he was going to fall into the lava. Harquar looked weakly at Samus.

"I'm…sorry…" He said, before he fell unconscious. Samus looked behind her. The sifting beam was dangerously close to them, and Samus was noticing signs that said "Avoid touching net at all costs!" Samus lifted Harquar over her shoulders, and ran over to a ladder that led up to the main platform. She hefted herself and Harquar upwards, and when she got up, she watched as the platform crossed the sifting beam. Samus tapped a few buttons on her cannon, and called for Adam.

"Yes, milady, what is it?" Adam asked.

"After you guys shut down the power, come and get us. I'm exhausted."

"Wait, milady, what-" But Samus shut down the link, and fell on her back, tired.

Far away from them, Adorios had been watching the entire battle. While he did lose his new tool, he really didn't mind. He was handling a bronze bracelet, with three stones embedded in it: one white, two different shades of blue. He chuckled, and walked away into the shadows.

* * *

Listal and Adam had recently gotten Samus's call. While they were worried, they had a feeling everything would be ok. Unfortunately, they were rather lost at the moment, since they couldn't find the energy core.

"Well, I guess we should just screw the energy core mission and get Samus, right?" Listal asked.

"Yes. I have a feeling she was able to find Harquar, circumstances unknown, but she didn't mention the Ice Stones…" Adam said thoughtfully.

"Screw that too. Let's get Samus and whoever she found outta here!"

Adam nodded, and began to run back the way they came. As she followed, she stopped to look at what looked like a map on the wall, but realized it was just some sort of diagram. Turning around, she then noticed Adam had disappeared. Even more noticeable was that there were two corridors branching off in separate directions. Deciding to try the left, she ran into a large round room.

"Gah, other way. Well, better go-"

She stopped in mid sentence. There, in the doorway, was Nero. Listal backed up a bit at the sight of him.

"What are you doing here?" Listal asked cautiously.

"My boss happens to own the place. Why else would I be here?" Nero replied with a bit of evil intent lying on his voice.

"No, I mean, how did you find me?" Listal began to prime her weapon behind her back.

"You aren't very hard to find, my sweet Listal. And you should know your weapon won't work against me." He gestured to the beam she was concealing. She turned it off angrily.

"You won't win against us." She said venomously.

"Neither will you. As they say, if you can't beat them, join them." Nero sneered.

"I'm watching you. I will get you."

"So am I." Nero said with a smile, and he turned into a puddle of ooze and vanished. As Listal stood there, Adam soon found her.

"Did you get lost again? Come on, let's go!"

"Oh, shut up" She retorted.

* * *

Strafe and Xorexus were carrying Harquar with Samus. As they were running to meet up with her, they came across her carrying Harquar back to the ship. So of course, they helped her.

"Man, I never realized that he was so heavy." Xorexus said.

"Neither…did I…" Strafe said. He was carrying the midsection on his back.

"Can you make stuff lighter with that suit, too?" Xorexus asked

"I…wish…I could!" Strafe said somewhat annoyed.

"We should almost be back to the ship soon. Once we get there, we're gonna leave the place. There's nothing left to do here." Samus said.

"What about the Ice Stones?" Xorexus asked.

"I'm guessing that Adorios got them. While this is a disaster, we need to retreat. Harquar is in terrible condition. He needs medical attention."

"Gotcha. Hey, I think we're almost there…"

And they were. Soon, the ship they were borrowing was visible to them, and they slowly lowered Harquar to the ground. Soon, Adam and Listal came out of a hallway.

"Hey! Looks like you all made it back safely!" Adam said.

"Yeah, but we need to get out of here. Harquar is hurt, and this mission was a flop. We need to-"

Samus was interrupted by an explosion. Soon, more and more explosions were happening. Samus looked up to space. All of the Space Pirate ships had cleared the area, and explosions were visible on the side of the ring-ship. Samus realized what happened. Adorios and his team had set the place to self-destruct.

"Ok, now we REALLY need to get out of here!" Samus yelled. They all nodded, and helped her carry Harquar back into the ship. They closed the door, and readied the engines. As the complex exploded more, they blasted forward and out of the docking bay, just in time as it was exploding. As soon as they were a safe distance from the ring, it exploded in a massive flash of light. Samus was then positive that Adorios had gotten the stones, since he had destroyed the facility needed to get them. Samus looked down at Harquar, who was breathing slowly. She held back a tear, and looked forward to their next mission.

* * *

Adorios was sitting in the shadows of his room. He conjured six orbs from his hand: one large surrounded by five small. He tapped the central orb, and they flickered to life. A voice emanated from the orbs.

"Have you good news for me?" the orbs said.

"Yes, my master. I have succeeded in keeping Samus from retrieving a set of stones. She now has only one choice: she will have to confront me for them. Soon, my master, you shall be no longer known as Metalloid, but instead as your former glory: Necrolos."

"Good, my partner. I hope to hear from you again. Take care."

As the conversation closed, Dystereos stood by Adorios's locked door, trying to understand the mysteries behind what he just heard.

* * *

WOW. that was awesome, wasn't it? please review!

Next time: Remembering How To Forget.


	19. Chapter 18: Remembering how to Forget

Hi. this took a while, but it's in. it's interesting, i suppose. one of those "after battle cool-downs with a hint of evil."

* * *

Chapter Eighteen: Remembering How to Forget.

Year 20X9 Cosmic Calendar, 13th of June.

Location: Norion Medical Facilities, in orbit above Planet Norion.

Harquar got up from his bed groggily. Looking around, he realized he was in a hospital, reasons still unknown. He looked to his right, and saw many other neatly dressed beds lined up against the walls. He looked to his left, and saw that a needle was stuck into his arm. The needle was attached to a thin tube, which led up to a liquid filled pouch that hung nearby. Grunting, Harquar pulled the needle from his arm jerkily, resulting in surprisingly sharp pain.

"Yaaagh!" Harquar yelled. In response to his shout, a nurse suddenly ran into the room, rushing toward him with a bottle of cotton swabs.

"Sir, you shouldn't be so hasty with your equipment…" She paused. "That didn't come out right. What I meant was that you need to be a bit more patient. You still have some time before you can leave; three days in fact. Here, let me get that…"

She walked around to his left and began to swab the punctured area with a cotton swab moist with disinfectant. She then dabbed up the rest with a small towel, and began to clean up some of the mess near his bed. Harquar watched her, and then picked up the needle he had ripped from his arm.

"What about this?" he asked, holding the needle up for her to see.

"Oh, don't worry about that. In fact, I was coming to take this out of you when I was coming in." she took the needle from him, separated it from the tubing, and dropped it into a biohazard disposal chute. She then wrapped up the tubing, and tucked it away near the hanging pouch up above. She then turned to Harquar.

"So, as far as I'm concerned, I am your nurse and SLAVE. So if you need anything, just sound the alarm." She looked at his face and smiled, and they both broke out laughing. Harquar looked up at the nurse.

"I'm certain that I won't have to order you around as much as you think I will. To tell the truth, I could manage by myself."

"Don't be ridiculous! It's my job to make sure that you live the most perfect life while you are marooned in that bed, so don't play it nice to me. I am supposed to do all I must for you, and in fact, I won't get paid if I don't."

Harquar sat there silently. "Okay…well, your first command is to tell me your name." he said with a rather commanding voice. She giggled for a moment, and then stood attentively.

"My name is Nurse Mary Hills, Sir!" she said loudly. She stood there for a moment, erect and saluting, and then collapsed in laughter. Harquar laughed for a moment, and then pulled himself together.

"Can I just call you Mary?" he asked.

She got up from the floor, and fixed her hair. "Yeah, sure. Titles are so boring and tedious. And you're…Harquar, right?"

"No, my name is Gelgovian."

"Oh, really? Then I'm in the wrong room…" she began to walk away.

"Ah, no, I was just kidding!" Harquar yelled back frantically.

"I know!" she said with a smile, and walked back to the bed. "Do you have a last name?"

"Nope. Just Harquar."

"Well then, Harquar, since we are at a first name basis, what can I do for you?

"I don't think I need anything at the mome-" He was interrupted by his stomach making a strange gurgling noise. "Food. You can get me some food." He finished.

Mary giggled. "Ok, what would you like?"

"Anything that is not freeze-dried."

Mary frowned. "Unfortunately, all we have is freeze dried food. Would you like ration pack A or ration pack B?"

Harquar sat silently. "……………Umm……"

"Nah, just kidding! We may not have 5-star restaurant food, but we have a nice selection of cuisine. Would you like something Holdivian or Mexican?"

"Is that all you have?"

"No, it's just what I want to get you. Tacos or Steamed Telfas?"

"Did you say tacos?" Harquar's stomach gurgled again. "I want tacos. Bring me tacos."

Mary saluted again. "Yessir!" She dismissed herself, laughing as she exited the room. Harquar's facial tentacles wiggled. He rather liked that nurse. Looking out the window, he saw a beautiful blue-green planet below, with several ships flying around it. It was an amazing sight. Harquar looked away from the window, and stared into blank space. He was currently wondering why he wasn't back at home on Phrygis.

* * *

Samus was waiting in the waiting room, doing waiting things. She had already looked through all of the magazines, learning nothing but how to fashion your hair in ten different ways. She had been waiting for a while now, and she was getting rather hungry. Her attention was greedily diverted to a nurse who happened to be carrying a plate of tacos over on the other side of the room. She then realized that it was the same nurse who had told her to wait for a bit. The nurse suddenly stopped heading in the direction she was going, and returned hurriedly to Samus. Samus looked up at her, trying to conceal her hunger.

"Hi, sorry, I forgot you were here. I was about to bring these tacos to Harquar right now, so if you want, I can bring you with to visit him." The nurse said distractedly.

Samus nodded, tearing her gaze from the tacos. "Oh, yeah, that sounds good." Samus got up from her seat and followed the nurse through the confusing halls. Samus had been in worse mazes, but even she would be confused every now and then about where to go. Amazingly, the nurse ahead of her was completely undeterred by the daunting maze she strode through. Soon arriving at a somewhat secluded hospital room, she saw Harquar sitting inside. Samus walked up to him eagerly.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" she asked

"Ok?" he said slowly.

Samus gave him a quizzical look. "Are you sure? You're acting a bit funny."

Harquar gave her a quizzical look. "What are you talking about?" He paused. "Wait a minute…don't tell me you have me confused for someone else, do you? That person isn't named Gelgovian by any chance, right?"

Samus gave him a bewildered look "What are you talking about Harquar!? What's going on in your head?"

"I'm sorry, but I really don't remember you. Also, what happened to me? I was back on Phrygis with my lover Deliax, having a good time with my friend Rundas…"

Samus mind froze for a moment. "Deliax…? Rundas…?"

"Yes…two Phrygissians I happen to know."

"Harquar…Rundas and Deliax have been dead for a long time."

Haquar now froze for a moment. He sat there, trying to process what was just said. Samus got closer to him.

"Harquar…what year is it?"

"What?" he said tensely.

"What year is it?"

"What do you mean?? Don't you live in the same time as me??"

"What. Year. Is. It."

He sat silently. "20…X5…"

Samus got away from Harquar with a look of dread on her face. "Harquar, it's not 20X5. It's 20X9.

Harquar sat there for a moment, stunned. After thinking for a while, he looked up at Samus.

"Who are you?"

* * *

Back at Diaban:

"He's lost his memory!?!"

Samus recoiled at the chorus of surprised and confused voices. "I wouldn't say he's lost all of his memory…it's more like he was put back into another point of his life. Essentially, he's gone through a drastic case of short-term memory loss."

Listal shook her head. "I can't believe it. Why did this happen?"

"Maybe the sludge Adorios put in him did it?" Xorexus suggested.

"How would that happen though?" Adam asked.

"Well, think about it. That stuff controlled his mind, right?"

"Yes…" Everyone said slowly.

"Well then it must have been in his mind as well."

"And…?"

"So when the goop was expelled from his body, it must have damaged his memory."

Everyone swore. However, Samus was shaking her head. "That doesn't make sense, though. The only memories he has are the ones of before he became a bounty hunter. That's too coincidental."

Listal was silent. Something was bugging her. Something just wasn't right. To put it shortly, something smelled fishy.

"Perhaps there's some sort of memory-suppressing device?" Listal said.

Everyone turned to look at her. "What?"

"Perhaps Adorios left a device inside of him that is holding his memories back so that he won't have any immediate reason to fight him."

Samus thought silently. "Listal…I think you might be right." She turned to Adam. "Arrange an X-ray for Harquar immediately. We need to get results."

As everyone was discussing the issue, Listal was sitting in the back of the room, with a hidden rage building up deep inside of her.

* * *

The nurse Samus had met, whom she now knew as Mary, handed Samus the X-ray results.

"Here are the scans you wanted. But, we didn't see anything suspicious in the scans. We did operate on him, though, to see if the device was biological, and we did get something strange…"

"What did you find?"

"Some sort of yellow mucus has been coated all over the base of his spinal cord. We think that this may have been some sort of immediate reaction to the metal in his brain before, and it might have been secreted to help protect the brain after being so violently treated. We tried to get rid of it, but it seemed as if it simply excreted more. We would have to look into the biology of a Phrygissian in order to decide what the cause of this phenomenon is…"

Listal was listening in on the conversation, growing more and more angry. She knew who had caused his memory loss. And she knew that she had to stop it right away.

"Samus, I'm going to, um, get some info on the mythology of Fravellius. I'll be back in headquarters later." Listal said while walking toward the elevator.

Samus turned from the nurse for a moment. "Um, ok. We aren't doing much for the mission right now, though, so don't expect us to be there."

Listal ignored this and entered through the elevator doors. As soon as they closed, she violently punched the wall.

* * *

In the small space of his cell, Domoteras was trying to understand what happened. After the strange metal orb was taken away from him earlier, he had suddenly been much more aware of his surroundings. He was trying to understand why he was in this cell. Scanning his memory, the last thing he remembered was having an odd meeting with a man in silver armor. He was the one who gave him the orb. After that, everything he had experienced felt like a dream. And currently, he was having a hard time remembering that dream.

A sloshing noise was then heard. Looking up from the floor, he noticed that a figure was standing in the corner of the cell. Domoteras then realized who it was, and gasped in surprise.

"You! Why are you here?! Why am I here? What is happening Sei--?"

"That is not my name." The figure interrupted. "My name is Nero. Whomever you had me confused with is dead."

"Dead…?"

"Yes." Nero said, with a smile playing on his lips. "The reason I'm here is to let him see what you have become. So that he can see how awful you were. So that I can laugh at him even more. The fact that he TRUSTED you is enough for me to laugh at him." Nero paused. "You don't remember, do you?" He asked earnestly.

"Tell me what is happening. Why am I in prison? What have I done?"

"Hehe…you really don't remember…" Nero began. "HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!!" He laughed, causing Domoteras to cringe against the walls. "Well guess what? YOU HELPED IN THE PLAN TO DESTROY THE UNIVERSE, THAT'S WHAT!!!!!" Nero screamed, and he burst into a fit of uncontrollable giggles. Domoteras looked up at Nero.

"I…did? What about…Listal?"

"SHE HATES YOU EVEN MORE NOW!!!" Nero screamed maniacally.

"Why…? Why did this happen to me? Why……?"

"Hehehe………Because Adorios simply needed you as a sentimental weapon. I love the way he messes with people's minds. In reality, you did nothing. Only your incurable greedy nature fueled Adorios's power to the maximum. You will never be forgiven. And your daughter never wants to see your face again……"

Domoteras wiped the tears from his eyes. "You really aren't him. He was kind…the leader of the Isane Race. What did you do to him…? You are obviously not him…Why do you look like him?"

"Oh, him? Oh, that's obvious. I ate him!" Nero said with a toothy grin. He screamed laughing, leaving Domoteras there stunned.

"I have to leave now. I have a feeling that I am expected." Nero calmed down immediately, and began to walk toward the sink. He stopped, and turned to Domoteras.

"Pitiful, really. A family of traitors…"

And with that, he stepped into the sink, and disappeared down the drain.

* * *

Listal was standing in a dark alleyway on Diaban. She didn't know where eh was, or when he would arrive, but she knew he would come for her. She sat patiently, waiting.

Soon, a sloshing noise was heard, and Nero came out from around the corner.

"Hello, sweet Listal…" Nero said creepily.

Listal held her ground. "I know what you did. And I want you to stop it. Release him immediately."

"Whatever do you mean? I wont give you back Sei--"

"Not him. You know what I mean."

Nero paused, and smiled for a moment.

"What is your price?"

Listal paused. "……Me. Do what you wish with me."

"Oh Listal, you make that sound so naughty…" Nero said evilly. He paused for a moment. "You know I'm not really like that…but I'll take the deal. Adorios lost his recent pawn, so you might be useful…" He paused some more. "Are you sure you wish to make this choice? I mean, I will actually give you a second chance on this, unlike Adorios…"

Listal stood there silently with rage burning in her eyes. Nero nodded. "Very well then. From now on, you belong to me. I will release him."

He snapped his fingers in the air. After that, he placed his hand on Listal's wrist, and coated it in a bracelet of ooze.

"Disobey me, and that harmless ooze will become dangerous fuel gel. We will leave."

Listal followed him into the darkness. As they disappeared, she muttered under her breath.

"I will never forget what you have done to me, Nero."

* * *

Samus was sitting at the edge of Harquar's bed, staring at him solemnly. She watched as he was staring at the window, trying to say something, but it was as if what he wanted to say had flown out to the void. He finally turned to Samus.

"I'm sorry. But I really can't remember what you are telling me. It's true that I was going to become a bounty hunter tomorrow…well…the day after what my memory serves…but I didn't know any of this before. Was I transported to the future, and the Harquar you're looking for is somewhere out there?"

Samus shook her head. "No. you're him."

Harquar sighed. He looked at his hands sadly. "And…what you said about Rundas…and Deliax…is true too…?"

Samus nodded her head, tears stinging her eyes. "Yes."

They sat in solemn silence for a moment. Suddenly, though, Samus broke the silence.

"But…Deliax gave birth to your child!"

Harquar looked up in surprise. His mouth formed on a lost word. "She did…? What was her name?"

"I…don't know…"

Harquar sat there silently, and then looked up with light in his eyes. "…Gasina…"

He began to cough violently. Samus backed up from him, to give him space, as he continued the coughing fit. After caughing for a moment, he coughed loudly, and spat out a blob of yellow mucus. Slightly deterred byt this, Samus looked up at Harquar, only to be surprised by his appearance. He had icicles forming on his chin from the tears pouring from his eyes.

"Samus…Deliax is dead…and it's my fault…and…I tried to get her back…but I couldn't…"

Samus cried with tears of sadness and joy. She hugged Harquar earnestly.

"Samus…I rememebr everything…but…why haven't I remembered how to forget?"

Samus hugged Harquar tighter. Not of joy this time, but of sadness. She held onto him, holding him safe.

* * *

Welp, that's it. I don't actually have much to say....

Next Time: Actuality/Reality


End file.
